Up the Mississippi for a few days or so...

Up the Mississippi for a few days or so…
- A ministry update of Mo Leverett, March 30, 2008 -

Many thanks to all those who generously helped us through the month of March!

Before heading off on my next set of travels, we will have Bible Study, as always, with the kids from Clark High School in New Orleans on Tuesday evening. There are about 30 or so kids involved in this ministry. Richard Johnson is its leader, who is coaching football and track there, though he has asked me to teach the Bible Study over the last few weeks while I’m in town. He says it’s because I’m good at it, but I know he’s just looking for a break in the action. The Bible Studies are held in Sam Rauschenberg’s house, one block away from the school. (Sam is a teacher at Clark and a volunteer at Rebirth). We normally have burgers or chicken wings from Manchu, (a Chinese hole in the wall restaurant that specializes in wings and chicken fried rice). We of course integrate games but then get serious and explore the implications of grace in justification and sanctification and in all of life.

This Bible Study is a good start to a hopefully growing ministry movement in the resurgent urban schools of New Orleans. You see, pre-Katrina, New Orleans was a study in concentrated poverty around large and rough public housing projects. That poverty is more dispersed now, as the projects are being torn down, but it concentrates during school hours in the Recovery School District (RSD) and other public schools. These are now our target zones. We hope to plant a ministry center in the middle of these schools but have an outreach in each one of them.

One young man who we had led to Christ many years ago called me this past week, and in tears pleaded with me to relaunch the church that was Desire Street Fellowship. Of course that is on our heart. But I have much to do, and I’m finding that my body only allows me to do so much in my forties. When I was in my twenties and thirties, I thought nothing of holding down 4 or 5 full-time jobs, like senior pastor, school head-master, director of development, recording artist and so on and so forth. These days, however, the full-time job of fathering teen-agers forces a particular pace which I’m having to reluctantly submit to.

I will be headed to St. Louis this next week April 3-6 to speak at Covenant Seminary, Grace Presbyterian Church and Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church. Joining me will be Torey Angeletti, who we led to Christ in his younger years and who now feels led of God to become a minister. He has become my shadow over the last few weeks, is pleading for mentoring and is assisting me in my efforts. Another gentleman will meet me there as well, who is prayerfully exploring the possibility of becoming an incarnational urban missionary in East St. Louis. Be in prayer for all of us in these regards.

Following my weekend trip to St. Louis, I will fly to North Florida College in Jacksonville on April 9th to do a number of things there too. I really don’t know what all I am doing at most of these sites until about 24 hours or so before the event. But I am the master of quick assessment and adaptation.

So I hope I can count on your prayers this next week for this flurry of activities.

I’m also working on recording a new hymn project that should come out this year. I’m talking to a few friends in Nashville about where to go from here with my whole music thing - there’s some exciting possibilities that we are discussing. Stay tuned.

My family is well. I took Lindsay recently on a three day college tour. She’s excited about at least one good option. We’re working toward placing our other kids in public schools here in New Orleans. Finding a good school that would work for us is like the proverbial needle in the haystack, but we’re trusting God. Our kids have been blessed, despite living in poor neighborhoods, they have been afforded an education that I would not have known how to hope for.

Manning is building forts and making his own weapons of spears, machine guns, bazookas and missile launchers. Again, I become the object of his aggression but I must assume that his way of saying I love you is to imagine a grenade blowing me to smitherines. As best I can I accommodate and accept his destructive affection.

Many blessings to all…