28 July 2025
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
As the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it wrought approaches, the local branch of Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International commemorated the landmark date recently by holding a wreath-laying ceremony on the banks of the Mississippi River.
The ceremony, held July 7, also kicked off Full Gospel Fellowship’s 31st annual International, held this year in New Orleans.
The wreath ceremony and international gathering were preceded by an introductory press conference, convened in the Jefferson Ballroom of the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. After the press event, attendees proceeded out to the edge of the river to lay the wreath in a ceremony designed to “honor lives lost, churches displaced, and the communities that rebuilt in the aftermath of the storm,” according to a Full Gospel press release.
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International held a wreath placement ceremony recently to commemorate the impending 20th Anniversary of Katrina and to celebrate the resilience of the citizenry of New Orleans.
“Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated our Fellowship – uprooting churches, scattering congregations, and altering the course of ministry for countless leaders,” Bishop Joseph W. Walker III, the international presiding bishop of Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International, said in the press release before the wreath ceremony and conference.
“Through it all, our faith endured,” Walker added. “This ceremony is both a memorial and a declaration that through God’s grace, we have not only survived – we have grown stronger.”
Hurricane Katrina made landfall at New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, as a powerful Category 3 hurricane; by the time the storm left, it had caused $125 billion in damage (more than $200 billion in 2025 dollars) and resulted in almost 1,400 deaths and roughly 650 missing people.
Bishop Lester Love, who serves as first assistant to the presiding bishop for Full Gospel’s Council of Bishops, said to The Louisiana Weekly that the Full Gospel International conference was successful in assessing the progress both the church and the New Orleans community have made in recovering from Katrina and coming together to address the myriad of challenges facing the city.
“In all of our years coming together for the conference, this was one of the best years we’ve had,” he said, noting that the Katrina anniversary allowed attendees to focus their efforts.
“It gave us a really strong sense of purpose,” he said. “When you look at some of the things we’ve gone through [following Katrina], it’s made us resilient.
“We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time,” he added, “but we need to keep on going, keep building and moving forward. We have a lot more work to do.”
Love added that the fellowship is eager to continue partnering and working in cooperation with the local governmental structure and elected leaders to make the city and the community better.
“It shows that the church and the state can come together to work,” he said. “[Elected officials] understand the importance of their relationships with the community, and they understand the spirit behind our [Full Gospel] community.”
That’s a challenge Full Gospel is ready and willing to meet. He said the fellowship’s younger generations of leaders are prepared to step up and contribute greatly to the overall effort.
To that point, several public officials attended the Full Gospel press conference and wreath ceremony, including New Orleans mayoral candidate state Sen. Royce Duplessis and New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell.
Also attending were four other council members, including Lesli Harris, Freddie King III, Eugene Green and Oliver Thomas, a two-time member of the City Council who was on the Council when Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
“I’ve always believed that real leadership shows up in the storm,” Thomas said of Katrina’s long legacy in comments to The Louisiana Weekly. “During Hurricane Katrina, as City Council president, I got to work. The theme of this year’s [Full Gospel International] conference, ‘Repositioning,’ spoke to the storms we’ve survived and the faith it takes to rebuild. New Orleans knows pain and purpose and now we’re being repositioned to restore, renew and become a city that works for everyone.”
Green told The Louisiana Weekly that Full Gospel, which was founded and is still based in New Orleans, did a much needed thing with its anniversary marking the Katrina anniversary.
“It was a good news event for me to be able to participate in the welcoming and laying of the wreath to celebrate both the start of the conference and the solemn commemoration of Katrina’s anniversary,” Green said. “There is much that has been done to recover and rebuild while creating a brighter future for so many people. The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship and its leaders and members continue to play a strong role in helping people to move forward and grow in the face of challenge.”
He added that Full Gospel itself is a key part of the New Orleans community and beyond.
“The many congregations of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship helped so many people both during their storm-related relocation, and after their return to New Orleans and the region. They provided spiritual counseling and support, shelter, financial support, food, supplies, and more to members and to the public.”
“It is special to reside in New Orleans for a number of reasons,” Green said, “including because of the fact that our city is the home city of the founding of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship.”
Green added that “[I]n my City Council District, the Full Gospel congregations and leaders play an extremely active role in helping people to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their families through spiritual outreach and also through community and neighborhood focused activity.
“So I was pleased to welcome the church leaders from my District but also present from throughout the nation, recognizing them for their work to fulfill the spiritual needs and life enhancement needs of their members.”
Green said the recent Full Gospel events show how much New Orleans has bounced back from the devastation of late August 2005.
“The recovery of certain segments of our community following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is actually quite remarkable,” he said. “Entire communities were devastated, with so many people not being able to access funding and resources that would have allowed them to fully rebuild their homes and personal lives.
“Yet many tens of thousands of people chose to return, motivated by hope and faith that they would have the spiritual and other support that they needed to sustain and grow.”
This article originally published in the July 28, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.