Alabama Baptist associations send out hundreds of missions teams every year. And North Jefferson Baptist Association is no different.
Nearly six years ago, the association began partnering with Builders for Christ, a group dedicated to helping Southern Baptists construct churches in areas of need.
This partnership has opened doors for missions trips like the one to First Baptist Church, Chalmette, La., Oct. 29–Nov. 1, which marked North Jefferson Association’s seventh trip since January.
First, Chalmette, La., which is near New Orleans, was destroyed in 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and was experiencing “a slow rebuild — a lot slower than normal,” explained Steve Loggins, director of missions for North Jefferson Association.
So after Builders for Christ decided to make the church’s reconstruction its main project in summer 2007, North Jefferson Association was ready to hop on board.
The October trip marked the association’s third trip to Chalmette this year, Loggins said, noting previous trips in February and May.
“The church doesn’t have much in the way of membership and was pretty well devastated” in the hurricane, he said.
And that is why North Jefferson Association chose to be a part of the rebuilding process — to go where the need is.
“When you get down into the New Orleans area, you don’t get as much support from the churches, because basically these people are still in subsistent survival mode,” Loggins noted. “They go to work, earn money and some still living in FEMA trailers, they’re having to work on their own houses.”
During the last trip, the North Jefferson Association missions team installed electrical lines, units for heating and air, vinyl siding and doors.
“We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to get done, but we’re planning on going back again,” Loggins said, noting the team plans to take the challenge from a Builders for Christ representative: “We don’t do a job halfway.”
And the community is embracing the idea of the church being rebuilt, he said.
“People are waiting for the day when the church is open. [The church] has already seen a remarkable increase in number of people attending services,” Loggins explained. “But we’re going to just keep on keeping on and helping them until they can get in [the new building].”
But missions trips to First, Chalmette, La., aren’t the only ones the association is involved in.
The goal is to take at least one overseas missions trip focused on evangelism and one large construction trip each year, which provides more opportunities for churches and individuals to be involved, Loggins said.
“We have a lot of churches that go,” he said, noting on summer trips, there are usually about 15 churches represented. “Those are people that wouldn’t be able to go otherwise — that’s what associational work is all about, doing together what you can’t do apart.”
Charles “Charlie” Shrader, a deacon at Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Warrior, in North Jefferson Association, has been taking part in the associational missions trips since his retirement 10 years ago.
While he loves getting to meet new people and see new parts of the country, Shrader said the best part of the trips is the “end results.”
“And what I mean by ‘end results’ is the souls that are saved and the people that are brought to Christ. That’s what it’s all about — uplifting the Kingdom,” he said.
Shrader said he thinks everyone should get involved.
“I talk to our people all the time and people not even of our church, and I say, ‘You ought to come and go with us,’” Shrader said.
“Once you go, it gets in your blood and you’ll want to continue. There’s just something that draws you; it does me.”
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