How Reverend Adams Got His Church Back

By Maggie Barr
Photo By Matt Schinske

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held the evening of March 5, 2008 at the site of the Holy Ground Baptist Church in the Lower 9th Ward. In attendance were Reverend Adams, congregation members, Common Ground Volunteers and 9th Ward residents. Also present were members of Global Hope, a Chicago-based non-profit organization and representatives of Deltec Homes of Asheville, NC, the company that initiated the rebuilding of the church. Deltec brought a busload of builders from around the country to the ceremony. Building is to commence shortly and is a sign of hope for many in the L9 community and throughout the country.

A few months after a $60,000 renovation, Holy Ground Baptist Church was flooded as the post-Katrina storm surge caused a barge to breach the walls of the Industrial Canal levee, creating a spillway for the storm waters. Amazingly, Holy Ground Baptist Church remained, for the most part, structurally intact. The only damage suffered by the church was the result of a neighboring building that floated across the street, landing at the corner of the church. Reverend Adams was grateful the structure had weathered the storm and immediately got to work planning the repairs.

Reverend Adams faced many challenges during the storm. Evacuating his wife, Julia, to Texas, the Reverend chose to remain in their two-story home with his community. After the floodwaters rose to the first floor of his home, Reverend Adams retreated to the second floor where he remained for nine days. “I thought the waters would go down by then,” he said. But they never did. Urged by the National Guard to evacuate, Reverend Adams refused until a neighbor convinced him to go. His neighbor insisted that he would not evacuate without the Reverend in tow, demonstrating the solidarity that is unique to New Orleans. Reverend Adams boarded his neighbor’s boat, en route to a two-month odyssey that carried him to the arms of his family living in San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta and back to Texas before he and his wife returned to the city.

Overcome with emotion, Julia Adams could not bear to return to the Lower 9th as Reverend Adams boarded a bus to tour the damaged area. At that time, residents were not allowed to disembark to survey their property first-hand. Once the Ward was finally opened to the public, the Reverend got to work filing papers and following procedure to rebuild his church, which had been assessed for demolition. Though Common Ground volunteers had gutted, boarded the building, making sure to tend to the grounds; and though the Reverend applied for a rebuilding permit numerous times, reached out for legal assistance, his application was repeatedly rejected.

Just when the Reverend Adams thought he was getting somewhere, the unimaginable occurred. A few days after a representative from the permit office failed to show for an on-site meeting, he returned to find his church demolished. Although it could have been saved, it was now gone, and the Reverend, who had enjoyed a congregation of 40 members before the storm, became disheartened. “They can build all the houses they want. They can build them big and beautiful and brand-new. But if you don’t have a place of worship, it’s all worthless,” he recently observed.

Six days before the groundbreaking ceremony, Reverend Adams got a call from Common Ground Relief. The phone call was simply: “Reverend, you’re going to get your church back.” The Reverend was “amazed, shocked and astonished” at the news. He learned that a Chicago-based organization, Global Hope, Inc., which has been working with Common Ground for months, had collaborated with David Hall from Deltec Homes of Asheville, NC to rebuild a property in the Lower 9th. Holy Ground Baptist Church was chosen as the first faith-based, community service institution to be rebuilt in the Lower 9th. He felt in a state of grace as the good news sunk in.

“It’s a ripple-effect,” said Mary Lothrop of Global Hope. “Simple actions create ripples in the lives of all you touch and some you haven’t met.”

“Well, you need a variety of spices to make a good gumbo,” says Reverend Adams, who now plans to extend his church to aide single parents, those addicted, and create a complex for the handicapped as well as the elderly who are most often overlooked. He wants to help his congregation come back to the Lower 9th. “Nothing is impossible,” he said. “I firmly believe that there is more good in the world than bad. To me, this rebuilding demonstrates the strength of the good and the power of the positive.”

For more information, please contact Global Hope at www.globalhopenow.org and Common Ground relief at www.commongroundrelief.org or Reverend Adams who will soon be back in his church at 2223 Lizardi in the Lower 9th near the Claiborne Bridge.
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The author can be contacted at: mfbarr@hotmail.co.uk