New Orleans Disaster Relief

On January 1 about 40 people from eXchange headed to New Orleans to assist with disaster relief. We loaded into vans, cars and trucks and made our way to the Gulf. Most of our time was spent gutting houses and doing mold remediation. This was one of 5 or 6 trips that eXchange has made this year to help out. From a pastoral persective this is a dream come true. The identity statement that we have wrapped ourselves around is " eXchange is a Community of people, following Christ, and serving in his Cause." As Associate Pastor of eXchange, I was blown away at how this statement was fleshed out by the people on this trip. We believe that community and cause are tied closely together. What draws people together more than a common mission?

Community - Our relationships with each other blossomed on this trip as we worked our butts off, sweat together and even bled together.

Christ - We prayed several times during the day together. Most often with the homeowner. We talked boldly about Christ with people.

Cause - God put on Flesh and moved into the neighborhood. Then he gutted some houses and remediated the mold. some people gave their lives to Christ for the first time and others were obedient through baptism.

We baptized four of our own while we were down there; Laura, Ricardo, Tyler and Nick were all obendient to Christ in baptism.