[StBernard] World Prayer Tabernacle breaks ground on new building in Chalmette

[Westley Annis]

World Prayer Tabernacle breaks ground on new building in Chalmette

Published: Thursday, June 07, 2012, 7:06 AM

 By Earl Hodges 

World Prayer Tabernacle took a giant step toward rebuilding on May 29 when
church leaders, congregants and parish officials gathered at 4030 Paris Road
in Chalmette for a ground-breaking ceremony. The church's building was
destroyed by both Katrina's floodwaters and a tornado. Since then, members
of the congregation have been holding worship services in a building next to
the church site.

The new building is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The
13,000 square foot building will seat 500 and include state of the art areas
for children and youth ministries. Lonnie Goddard of Chalmette is the
general contractor.

World Prayer Tabernacle is more than a half century old and at the time of
Katrina the church was averaging more than 600 people in its weekly worship
service.

"The heartbeat of our congregation is that God will continue to allow us to
serve the community and give this parish a wonderful hope and future," said
the Rev. Derek Buchert, senior pastor.

The church is one of three World Prayer campuses. The Chalmette campus is
referred to as World Prayer Tabernacle, south while the other two are World
Prayer Tabernacle, north in Covington and World Prayer Tabernacle, east in
Picayune. The Rev. Carl Catalanotto is the overseer for all three
congregations.

"We are excited about rebuilding our building," Buchert said. "A church
gives people hope, and it is a place where lives can be changed."

It's also important for churches to rebuild after disasters like Katrina
because people need to know that the church has made a commitment to stay in
the community, Buchert added.

"When everyone else leaves the church will still be there," he said. "We
want to let people know that God is still here and didn't go away with
Katrina."

The rebuilding of World Prayer Tabernacle also encourages the residents of
St. Bernard Parish to have hope for the future, Buchert said.

"You may be down but you can always come back and be better than you were
before," he said.

The church conducts Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. weekly. A youth
worship service is also held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

For more information about World Prayer Tabernacle, call 504.207.0180.

Earl Hodges can be reached at earlhodges at msn.com or 504.887.4731.

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