Wednesday, January 31, 2007
- NTS
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is for many students, a time of respite. For 10 NTS students, however, it became a week of gaining invaluable hands-on ministry experience; more importantly, it provided an opportunity for these students to offer hope and help in New Orleans—where hope is difficult to find.
On Tuesday December 26, the 10 NTS students and faculty member Dr. Judi Schwanz (Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling) boarded a bus and headed south. Students were making the journey as a part of an NTS class—Pastoral Care and Trauma Response. The class had spent time in Kansas City preparing, and then spent another 3 – 4 days in training and spiritual reflection in New Orleans before going out into the city, seeking individuals and families in need of pastoral care.
The team immediately came face to face with real, raw needs. When asked about the significance of such a ministry experience for those preparing to be ministers, Dr. Schwanz reflected, “Our students experienced firsthand the value of offering safe, relationship to hurting people—even to people they would only be with for a short-time. Time and time again, we realized the healing power of just listening to people’s stories.” She continued, “The people living in New Orleans are still living in crisis. No matter how much we read, how many newscasts we watch—those images are still two-dimensional. This ministry experience put a face on the devastation; a real personality to the story of loss and pain—making very real for our students the importance of pastoral and trauma care.”
The team came back to Kansas City with the burdens of many on their hearts—one example is the story an 83-year old woman, Ms. Laura, whose story was recounted by NTS student Laura Rand:
It was beautiful day when we met Ms. Laura sitting on the porch of her home. When asked how she was doing, she mumbled that it was a lousy day. She looked at our Nazarene Disaster Response shirts as we approached and read the words out loud, “restoring hope.” She said cantankerously, “I ain’t got no hope.” We sat to visit with her and she began to tell her story. “After Katrina, I was picked up by a boat from my porch. Can you imagine? I am 83 years old and they lifted me into a boat! I was taken to a bridge where I sat without food and water for two days. Finally I was transported to Texas where they treated me well. And now, I live in this tin can,” pointing to the FEMA trailer sitting in her front yard, “because my house is uninhabitable.” Her house was stripped to the studs some time ago; she did not know if her house would ever be rebuilt.
Proudly, she spoke of when she first bought the house in the 1970’s. She recalled “how lucky I was to have gotten the house.” But now as we peered into her house through the glassless window, we sensed her frustration at the storm and its destruction. We listened to her for 45 minutes, although it did not seem that long. Our hearts broke with her already broken heart and we began to understand her sense of hopelessness. In response, we did all that we could do—we extended God’s hand of grace through our hugs, our listening ears, and our prayers. Although her world seems hopeless, maybe on that day, in that hour, during that moment, she found a glimmer of hope.
Rev. Andy Teston, NTS student and Pastor of the Blackwell (OK) Church of the Nazarene, says of his experience, “I received a call to pastoral ministry at an early age and have been a pastor for ten years. In recent months I've had a growing awareness that God has called the Church to engage the world. This experience in New Orleans confirmed my own call to a ministry outside the four walls of a church building. New Orleans broke my heart. This is where the church needs to be—in the midst of suffering—because that is where God is.”