The Chaplain of Bourbon Street Author:Bob Harrington with Walter Wagner The word spread fast along Bourbon Street. No one had invited me--a sin-busting, devil-chasing young preacher--into the hellhole that was the French Quarter of New Orleans. — In the courtyard leading to my office, I hung a flaming red cross, bathed in a yellow spotlight, that could be seen clearly from the street. On the sidewalk I placed a woode... more »n signboard that invited the lost, the damned and the troubled inside for counseling, aid, prayer and comfort.
The cross and the sign were an affront to the powerful, money-hungry owners of the honky-tonk strip joints and bars that front Bourbon Street like so many open manhole covers.
I was an interloper, a stranger who had no place in an area dedicated to perverted pleasure. Preaching the Lord's word in this heartland of heathenism was no way to win friends and influence people.
I knew that my ministry on Bourbon Street was going to be difficult. I had no illusions. But Mark's injunction, "...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" strengthened my resolve.« less