The Mission Field Around Us: Mission to New Orleans Part One

I just arrived home yesterday from a week-long mission trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. My church mission team and I spent the week working with an organization called Operation NOAH Rebuild. We worked on one house doing electrical work, framing, and preparation work for putting up sheet rock.

In the past I have gone on several mission trips to Mexico, but I have never gone to New Orleans. Even though three years have almost passed since Hurricane Katrina, the devastation is still more than apparent. The great hopelessness that I witnessed in the lives of the people I came in contact with was overwhelming. But amidst the rubble and broken pieces these people hold in their hands and the hopelessness they face daily, God's grace, mercy, and hope shine brighter. My mission team's goal was not only to help rebuild a home, but to share the hope of Jesus Christ with the people we came face to face with.

Even though Katrina is considered a great tragedy, I also recognize that God's hand was in it. As one lady in my mission team concluded, before Katrina New Orleans would hardly have been an attractive location for Christians to visit. But God used the devastation of Katrina to send hundreds of faith based teams into New Orleans to help rebuild the city and to share Jesus Christ with the lost.

God has placed each of His children into the mission field of His choosing. But we must go out and put our hand to the plow if we are to obey and glorify Him. There are people all around us who live in utter hopelessness, and God has called us who believe and trust in Him to share our hope in Christ with those who are lost.

My own prayer to God is that He would awaken in my heart a compassion for the lost fueled by my passion for Him. God has given us so much in Christ, let us not keep the riches of His mercy to ourselves, but let us share the Hope of Christ with those around us. Whether it is a co-worker or a neighbor, whether you go on a mission trip to New Orleans or witness to a cashier at the grocery store, wherever you are share the hope of Christ that is within you.