Good Things in Louisiana

Just returned from my weekend eschatology conference in Slidell, Louisiana.  It was a wonderful trip.

A couple of things of note.

If any of you live in the Slidell area (or know someone who does), I would heartily recommend Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) to you.  The pastor (Todd Smith) is a solid guy, the church is vibrant, healthy and loves God's word.  They have a great liturgy, they sing Psalms and they study the Westminster Standards!  They are exceptionally friendly as well!  Imagine that, friendly Calvinists!

For those of you still wondering, CD's from the conference can be ordered by calling Trinity Presbyterian (985-641-1507) or emailing them (trinity@datastar.net).  If you email them, please put "eschatology conference" in the subject line.  The price is very reasonable--$5.00 for the CD of the entire conference, plus whatever postage is required.

One of the highlights of the trip was that I finally got to meet a White Horse Inn pen pal (Brian Davilla) with whom I've corresponded off and on for some fifteen years.  Brian is now a member of Trinity Presbyterian in Slidell and is another great reminder of how Mike Horton's vision to take the Reformation to the radio has borne so much wonderful fruit.  The White Horse Inn has not only been a blessing to those of us who host it, when you meet people like Brian, you realize that it has been a blessing to so many of you.   Its easy to forget that when you sit behind a mic in a studio.

If you ever get to Louisiana (and New Orleans) you must see the World War Two Museum (formerly the D-Day Museum).  It is a wonderful tribute to the greatest generation.  The D-Day portion of the Museum movingly depicts the cost paid on a personal level by so many to defeat Nazi totalitarianism.  There is now a Pacific campaign section as well.  The exhibits are wonderful and there is a good collection of original weapons and equipment.  I even saw "Ruppert" (you D-Day affectionados will know what I mean).

Finally, we also saw some of the damage from Katrina (especially visible in the East New Orleans area and along Lake Ponchatrain).  Trinity PCA was hard hit, with 42 inches of water in their sanctuary (it is now rebuilt and repaired).  Several members of that church lost their homes and some are still in FEMA housing.  As you leave New Orleans for Slidell driving along Interstate 10, there were literally miles of trees--broken in half, bent over, dead.  In East New Orleans, you can see block, after block, after block, of relatively-new apartments, homes, condos, strip malls and shopping centers abandoned and in complete decay.  What was especially striking were the giant piles of appliances and damaged building material heaped everywhere. It will take a long time for this area to recover.  The more the federal and state government "helps", I am certain the longer the recovery will take.

But there is good news as well.  When we arrived at Trinity, the pastor pointed out a number of trailers and RVs parked behind the church.  They were Christian Reformed world-relief teams.  People everywhere commented that the churches saved the day and have done yeoman work for many in distress (demolition, tree-trimming, housing) without charging a dime.  That was very encouraging to hear!  In an age of scandal and apathy in the church, Christian mercy is still very much alive and visible and is a great witness to that entire region.

BTW, since I know you will ask, we did see a "gator" -- but it was dead on the highway.

Comments

[sms]

You stated - " they sing psalms " ...
are you familiar with a teaching
that says that ' only Psalms should
be sung in worship ' ?
-sms

[JamesL]

I was curious if you got a chance to talk to any of the veterans, if they were in there when you visited? Great museum, I'm looking forward to going back myself. Many thanks and Lord bless you!

James

[hb]

There was a tremendous amount of info here and all someone cares about is singing of the Psalms?
I appreciated hearing about your trip.
Thanks...

[gil]

a bit harsh huh hb? seemed like an honest enough question to me.

[David Gadbois]

Surprised, but pleasantly so, to hear about good things concerning a Louisiana PCA. A good chunk of the rest of that presbytery are nutty Federal Visionists, including one of FV's more heterodox and vocal proponents.

[George de Bram]

The FV's are in North Louisiana Presbytery. Slidell,Covington,Mandeville area,New Orleans and Metairie area,Baton Rouge and surrouning area (Home of LSU) belong to Southeast Louisiana Presbytery. Sad to say Louisiana maintains a North and South divide.RUF is active at LSU with the WORD of GOD.

[Brian Davilla]

The conference was great. Meeting Kim and Micki was just as great. Thanks again, Kim, for being my mentor and friend!

[The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge]

When I was an independent Baptist, a man from Slidell joined our church in Fort Worth, Texas, so he could attend Southwestern Baptist Seminary (as if that made sense, considering we were IFB!), but then he never showed up the next week, because I'm told he was arrested for stealing a truck. But I won't let that color my opinion of Trinity Pres. :)

How exciting that you got to meet a WHI pen pal. It is definitely true that the White Horse Inn, along with shows like Renewing Your Mind and some of the others available at ACE website are the life line for folks like myself, who are providentially hindered from even joining a Reformed church. I place a notice each week in the sidebar of my blog announcing each week's program so my readers can be introduced to the Modern Reformation, as many of my readers are not Reformed, although they rarely comment. Thank you for your life saving radio ministry!

I have just placed my order for the conference CD. I can't wait to receive it.