Living Sent in New Orleans
The grow community group serving harvest church
by Emily Stidham
In late summer of 2022, members of the GrOw (short for Grow and Go) Community Group spent the weekend in New Orleans, partnering with Harvest Church for a mission trip involving community outreach. Mississippi native and Mississippi State graduate Andrew Hanna pastors Harvest Church, a church plant of Immanuel Community Church, in the Tremé-Lafitte neighborhood of New Orleans. They meet in Phillis Wheatley Community School, located in the heart of Tremé. The mission of Harvest Church is to “exist to glorify God by following Jesus together and faithfully serving our city.”
They seek to gather around the gospel, grow in the gospel, and go with the gospel. Andrew and his wife and son live in this neighborhood of New Orleans to do just that.
The GrOw Community Group, led by Kevin and Kristin Edelblute, consists of various individuals and couples in different stages of life, but many with young children. College and Missions Minister Nathan Taylor, Andrew, and I envisioned a trip that was inclusive of all ages. Seven families from our community group jumped on board for the trip, with kids ranging from toddlers to teens. The remaining members of our community group and others across First Baptist Starkville supported us by praying and contributing financially.
Andrew Hanna shared that Harvest Church’s needs involved connecting with their community, showing them the love of Jesus, and inviting them to church and other church-organized events such as Bible studies and membership classes. Utilizing our community group, he envisioned hosting a block party at the local park with pizza, inflatables, and lots of fun. This would allow an opportunity for community outreach and the invitation to church Sunday morning.
The morning of the block party, our community group gathered at the park that would soon serve as the party’s location to pray and begin walking the surrounding neighborhood to spread the word and pass out flyers for the afternoon block party. With questionable weather predictions, we were unsure of the probable afternoon attendance of the block party. Still, we remained hopeful and faithful to what the Lord wanted to do through us for this community. Only a few of us got caught in the rainstorm while walking the neighborhood!
The weather cleared and made way for a beautiful afternoon at the park. Fifty-plus community members, from infants to elders, joined us along with the staff and members of Harvest Church. Bringing our kids along allowed us many great opportunities to connect with the community. Kevin Edelblute shared, “It was amazing to watch children from wildly different worlds exchange smiles and bond in a bouncy house, enjoy playing pickup basketball at the park, and share conversations with one another. It was awesome watching our kids plant and water seeds of hope and shine their light into a dark place. Especially since they will one day soon be responsible adults and part of the next generation to take on leadership roles within the church to help advance the Kingdom!”
During the block party, we provided flyers to the attendees with information for church service Sunday morning, as well as a flag football league for the community’s youth. The Lord painted a rainbow in the sky during the block party, hanging over the neighborhood we had walked in earlier during the storm—a visual reminder of His goodness and provision.
The rainbow was not the only way God revealed himself during the weekend. A few old friends who lived in Tremé reconnected at the block party after they had not seen each other in several years during the pandemic. Pastor Andrew shared that many members of Harvest Church were able to make better connections with the members of the community because they did not have to work or host the event; they could attend and enjoy time connecting with one another. I had an interaction with a non-believer who owned the inflatables we rented and had the opportunity to share with him what we were doing as a church and community group. The young men who came to set up and take down the inflatables had some intriguing conversations with members of our community group about the culture and happenings of the neighborhood to help us better understand the area. The restaurant where we ate lunch did not typically do reservations for big groups but allowed them for us, so our group was able to enjoy lunch all together. We also had the opportunity to learn more about Adriann, a Harvest Church intern, and her fiancé Isaac who joined us for lunch. In addition, the man at Domino’s (where we ordered pizza for the block party) found favor with us when we shared what we were doing and gave a great discount on the pizza.
These are just a few stories, and I am sure there are many more that we may not know about. God’s hand was on this trip in small and large ways.
At the beginning of the trip, Paige Peeples helped lay the foundation for us all to expect God’s blessings by providing each of us with a blessing jar filled with blank pieces of paper. By the end of the weekend, all of my blank paper was covered in details of God’s provision. Paige shared, “I’ve been on lots of mission trips in my life, and this one was special because I got to share it with my family. Watching my daughter interact with other kids was priceless. She has such a heart for Jesus and others. She said she couldn’t wait to go back and hoped all the same kids would be there.”
In addition to the block party at the park that Saturday, our community group served Harvest Church by helping set up and take down their Sunday morning worship service at Phillis Wheatley Community School. The Edelblutes served in the nursery caring for the children while the remainder of the group had the opportunity to attend service and hear a message from Pastor Andrew. He preached from Exodus 3:1-22 and shared how God prepares us for the task at hand. Andrew also challenged us to live in a way that makes others curious so that they may turn and inquire about the Jesus we follow.
Mission trips do not always have to last several days or be far away from home. Anna Newman shared, “The mission trip was impactful because of the community-driven focus. It was so encouraging to serve alongside Harvest Church and see their members and members of our community group involve their families in the outreach events. It was a joy to see our group’s children playing with the children of the Tremé community, which opened my eyes to the value of involving the entire family in ministry. It is evident that the Lord is working to impact the Tremé community through the obedience of Harvest Church to be present and intentional there, and I am thankful to have been able to support them.”
Going to New Orleans gave our community group the opportunity to “Live Sent” and serve others not far from home but in a place with much turmoil. I, by no means, feel qualified to lead a mission trip; however, the Lord was faithful and provided for our safety and gave many opportunities for us to connect with one another and with new friends. Alex Edelblute loved “socializing with new people and getting to know them by playing basketball in the park and a little bit of football.”
My hope and prayer from this trip is that hearts were sparked with the love of Jesus, and others will be encouraged to follow Him and bring others along as Pastor Andy has challenged us over the past year. Reader, please pray for Harvest Church, Andrew Hanna, his family, and the other staff members as they seek to follow Jesus and serve the Tremé-Lafitte community of New Orleans, Louisiana.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5