Staff members at New Orleans Seminary enjoy a “welcome back” cookout April 24 to mark the return of NOBTS officials and staff members to the stricken city after an eight-month relocation to Atlanta.After almost eight months away, New Orleans Baptist Seminary closed its temporary administrative offices in Atlanta and returned home to New Orleans. The return marked yet another milestone on the long road back from Hurricane Katrina.
Approximately one-fourth of the offices and staff members had returned to New Orleans in January to assist with spring commuter classes on the main campus.
But Internet, telephone services and electricity were still spotty at the time; mail deliveries had not resumed; and only a small number of apartments had been restored. Due to the lack of services and housing, the majority of the staff remained in Atlanta as the campus restoration continued.
On April 24, the relocated offices reopened on the main campus.
“It’s great to see so many of you back,” NOBTS president Chuck Kelley told the staff members during a meeting at Martin Chapel April 27. “It really does take all of us. What you have done this year is the stuff of legends.”
The week took on a festive mood as the close-knit staff was reunited. The campus life and dean of students offices, back since January, hosted a welcome back cookout for the staff April 24.
Kelley called attention to the work of Southern Baptists in making the return possible.
“We need to thank Southern Baptists for their help,” Kelley reminded the staff. “It is the Cooperative Program that made this possible,” he said, referencing funding provided through the Southern Baptist channel of missions and ministry support.
Nearly 1,000 Southern Baptist volunteers had restored the apartments that staff members call home, Kelley said. Volunteers continue to prepare the seminary campus for full-scale resumption of campus operations in August.
Seminary contractor Mike Moskau, whose workers were assisted by the influx of Southern Baptist volunteers, said their help cannot be overstated: The volunteers have saved the seminary close to $3 million in labor costs.