Where He leads...: New Orleans happenings...

New Orleans happenings...

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Although I am unsure of when Summer officially ends, as far as I'm concerned… Summer is over! Aside from the blazing heat that still remains here in New Orleans, Summer MissionLab has completed its course for 2007 and I am back to a more reasonable pace of life. Don't get me wrong, these past few months have been incredible. Seeing those young people accomplish so much through their God-given strength and talents was a tremendous blessing and source of encouragement to me and the rest of the team. God will always move in miraculous ways when people choose to surrender their time for His mission. Everyone who came to New Orleans on mission could have been enjoying their summer in a number of other ways, yet they chose to be a part of what God is continuing to do in this city.

So what is God doing in New Orleans? Plenty!

Just this past weekend nearly 400 individuals united in prayer during a conference called Out of Range. We had an amazing time of worship and study of God's Word as we were reminded not about the power of prayer, but of the awesome power of the God to whom we pray! We were led in worship by the Andrew Ogea Band, Leeland, and speaker Dr. David Platt. Saturday afternoon groups went out across the city, saturating the streets with prayer. During that time, I had the privilege of packing a 15 passenger van with helping hands and about 75 leftover Chick-fil-A boxed lunches and cold drinks. We drove down Broad Street for about an hour, passing them out to families spending the afternoon on their front porch, construction workers weary from their labor, passers-by curious as to what we were doing, and we finished up at a carwash packed with shiny vehicles and hungry bellies.

I am excited for the fall because I finally feel settled into my life and ministry here. MissionLab is slowing down some for a few months in terms of volunteer groups coming from out of town. I will stay busy, however, as I feel God calling me to pursue ways to connect local churches and students with the continuing rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. There are also several opportunities for me to plug into some other great ministries throughout the city. HIMnI, a once-a-month young adult worship gathering, is one example (www.himni.org). Meanwhile, our staff will be busy reorganizing and re-strategizing for MissionLab 2008. I'll even be traveling some, setting up booths to promote the MissionLab program. I'll be in Arlington, TX in October and Alexandria, LA in November. Beginning in February, we will be launching the MissionLab Your Glory Tour where we take our staff and the Andrew Ogea Band to churches across the U.S. to assist them in hosting a "MissionLab" in their hometown with other churches in their area. If your church would like information about hosting your own MissionLab weekend, please send me a request and I'll forward along the basic info. I'd certainly love to come for a visit!!

As you may know, today marks the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Gulf Coast. With its destructive 145 mph winds and powerful storm surge, Katrina drowned 80% of the city of New Orleans, killing over 1500 people in Louisiana alone, leaving behind $82.2 billion dollars of damage. NOBTS, the seminary, is hosting a work day today and hundreds of students and faculty will be scattered throughout the city rebuilding, evangelizing, and so on. I'll be leading a gutting team. My favorite! Please continue to pray with me today, and throughout the days ahead, that residents here will remain strong in their struggle to rebuild. Pray for the Christians here that we will be bold in our testimony of faith in Jesus Christ as we encounter those who've rejected Him, who are living without Him, and some who have never even heard of Him. Pray that God would continue to send people to this city and other areas of this world in need of humanitarian efforts and most importantly, in need of God's love. And finally, as I learned this past weekend, pray to God because you long to spend time with Him... to sit quietly with Him as His glory surrounds you… humbled by the very fact that you can approach Him boldly. He knows us. He sympathizes with our needs. And He will stretch out His arms of mercy and grace to help us. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Thanks for your continued support. Keep me posted on what's going on in your neck of the woods and how I can be praying for you.

Peace and blessings,

Hannah

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

This was a piece of artwork that we designed for Out of Range. I was up for many long hours working on it with other volunteers. One day I spent 14 hours straight on my part.

It was enjoyable to be a part of its creation and it turned out well! I think Daniel 9:17-19 is now my favorite prayer in the Bible.

This was part of our prayer for the weekend. Kaitlin did the design and we helped with the frame, etc.

Simple, but I wanted to point out the artwork to the left and right. An artist from the French Quarter named Ron let us borrow those pieces for the set and on Saturday during our reflective prayer time, he designed two more “live” and donated them to the ministry. It was incredible to watch an artist at work like that and a privilege to get to meet him.

At the end of the summer I was able to come to Tennessee for a road trip with 4 of my friends I’d been working with all summer long. We had a blast hiking, canoeing, whitewater rafting, and camping.

We hiked Ramsey Cascades. It was extremely intense and next time we’ll know to bring more water!

My brother Matt came for a visit a couple weeks ago. We had a great time! Pray for him as he makes decisions for his future concerning his job and all that.