By all accounts of reporters on the scene, New Orleans isn't a happy place one year after Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,300 dead. A recent wire story talked of rats and other creatures swarming neighborhoods that still sit empty, a sign of the estimated 400,000 metro area residents now living in other places.

With a clean-up bill that Uncle Sam says is expected to surpass $100 billion, and estimates of up to six more years of recovery operations, the task is staggering.

Yet, amid discouraging conditions the church is helping bring hope to thousands still dealing with the devastation of the powerful storm and others that followed.

Dispatching Aid

While they can't match the federal government's resources, such groups as the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Salvation Army and Seventh-Day Adventists – and many others -- have dispatched thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars to the Gulf Coast.

One resident saw volunteers come to mud out her home, replace drywall and paint her kitchen. The woman said she "never thought there were this many kind people in the world," says Linda Beher, communications director for UMCOR, which raised $65 million for five post-hurricane initiatives.

"I think the world viewed this with a great deal of appreciation," Beher says.

"I do think the response did become the church's finest hour, probably in my lifetime," says Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for the SBC's North American Mission Board (NAMB.)

Thus far, NAMB has raised $24 million for disaster relief and recovery, with an equivalent amount given through other channels by SBC state conventions and churches.

The convention's response included more than 9,000 volunteers helping prepare more than 14.5 million meals after three hurricanes. They cleaned up nearly 17,000 homes and provided mobile showers for more than 103,000 Gulf Coast residents.

This kind of action merited mention of faith-based organizations in the White House's 228-page report on the federal response to Katrina.

A Continuing Presence

However, more significant may be the body of Christ's continuing presence. One example: the 31 homes currently being built in an abandoned area by the Baptist Crossroads Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. Another 100 are planned by 2008.

Two residents of New Orleans involved in long-term recovery projects estimate that churches or Christian non-profits are doing at least 90 percent of the gutting of homes so they can be rebuilt.

Tobey Pitman is project coordinator for Operation NOAH, an all-volunteer effort that hopes to rebuild 1,000 homes by 2008. It has completed hundreds of "gut-outs," thanks to thousands who have visited this summer.

"We're there to take a message of hope," says Pitman, emphasizing that assistance isn't restricted to people of faith.

"We're not concerned just about bricks, mortar and nails, but rebuilding people. It's our desire to prayer-walk every property and have a chaplaincy visit before we start work and when we finish."

Building Better Communities

Rick Grover, lead pastor of Journey Christian Church in Jefferson Parish, says more than 3,000 volunteers from 500-plus churches have visited to bolster its Building Better Communities (BBC) initiative.

"We weren't even three years old when Katrina hit," Grover says of Journey, a mission sponsored by Christian churches in four other states. "We got 2,500 e-mails and calls saying, ‘We want to come down. What can we do?' We got down on our knees and said, ‘Lord, what can we do to help long term?"

One answer was establishing BBC, which in partnership with the Louisville (Ky.) based Crossroads Missions has gutted 300 homes and is helping residents remodel or rebuild.

Its goal is to rebuild several hundred houses in 2007, with a separate effort targeting construction of 50 new homes.

In addition, the initiative has already dispensed $300,000 of financial assistance and established a neighborhood center in one poor area. It is the first of 12 the group plans to open.

The centers' primary functions are to provide physical and financial assistance, emotional support, and life skills training, such as job training, literacy classes and financial counseling.

"Our strategy is ‘Let's come alongside people, meet needs and cut through the red tape," Grover says. "Let's work alongside them so we can develop relationships and meet social and emotional needs."

Less Visible Help

One less visible means of support is provided through UMCOR. The agency is administering a $66 million federal grant to provide assistance to 100,000 of the region's most vulnerable families.

Beher says nine partners – such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and National Disabilities Rights network – are helping implement the grant. It includes such tasks as helping displaced residents locate medical facilities and special-needs schools, reconnecting families and helping homeowners decide whether to rebuild.

Although this case management is its leading recovery task, Beher notes that thousands of Methodist volunteers are also helping strip out damaged homes and rebuild them.

The Challenge

While churches can feel good about Christians' response and their continuing care for those in need, the SBC's Burton says the long-term effect of Katrina includes a challenge.

"The message is this kind of ministry is something the church needs to capture," Burton says. "Maybe not on the level of (the) response to Katrina, but community by community and church by church. Go and figure out how to meet community needs and prove the Christ in us is alive and real."

However, among the thousands of Gulf Coast residents who have found hope where none existed, few would argue with that reality.