Storm led churches to ‘dream big dreams,’ pastor says
May 18, 2006
By Tim Tanton

NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) — Many Gulf Coast pastors, like the Rev. Cory Sparks, say Hurricane Katrina has forced them to look at ministry in a new way.

“It has revolutionized our thinking about ministry,” Sparks, 35, says.

In the days after the Aug. 29 storm, members of his congregations at Carrollton and Parker Memorial United Methodist churches served as rescue workers, provided relief, and distributed water, food and flood buckets throughout their neighborhoods, he explains.

“It caused us to move out beyond our walls in almost every way,” he says of the storm.

But the two congregations went beyond that, to ask what it means to participate in God’s healing and “to dream big dreams,” he says. “They said, ‘What if we think less of a vision just for this church and more of a vision for this entire city, of rebuilding this city in a way that is more just, righteous (and) at harmony with nature and neighbor?’” the rest