The church after Katrina

A couple of weeks ago I went on an unforgettable mission trip to New Orleans and encountered a church that gave me a lot to think about.

Prince of Peace Missouri Synod Lutheran Church was once a thriving church and school. It was flooded when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, and community buildings along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama in 2005. But with assistance from the wider church, Prince of Peace's expansive building was renovated and converted into a volunteer camp, now called Camp Restore (a separate nonprofit agency), which brought in thousands of volunteer workers to do hurricane clean-up.

Camp Restore has become a thriving center that provides bunk-style housing and meals and matches volunteers with work sites where they do everything from hanging drywall to playing bingo with senior citizens. They average more than 3,000 volunteers per year.