ustxtxb_obs_2007_09_21_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

iiY. is Until recently, their children had attended public school in Marble Falls. But they began the home school so “we could teach them the principles of the word,” as Claudette Monnet put it. The planned compound will certainly offer convenience. “You step out your front door and go to church,” said 42-yearold Sharon Summerall, who’s been in the ministry seven years. But it will also isolate parishioners on the secluded property 15 miles outside Marble Falls. Pastor Monnet is clear about his goal: to pass what he sees as a needed sense of faith and responsibility to another generation. “If I don’t get to them, when we die, there won’t be no church,” he said. Some ministry members’ families back in New Orleans are none too pleased. “Our family thinks [it’s] a cult and pastor is going to lead them to drink poison like Jim Jones or something,” said Jacqueline Richard, whose son, Sean, and his wife have been with the ministry for three years. Though she lives in Louisiana, she plans to move to Marble Falls soon and join the ministry. She said their familyCatholic for generations simply doesn’t understand that “pastor is preaching the truth” straight out of the Bible, free of distortion and interpretation. Sitting across the room in their Marble Falls apartment, Sean said, “It’s really a blessing to be here. New Orleans was real bad. There were random killings, a lot of burglaries. Out here it’s different. God pulled us out of there.” He looks at his infant son perched on his lap. “It’s a real blessing to be here.” The Ministry was based here for almost nine years before Hurricane Katrina devastated the area. Shawn, one of the ‘Real New Orleans Style Restaurant’ chefs, is cleaning up at The Smoking for Jesus Ministry’s restaurant. The ministry opened this restaurant to bring some of their local Creole cuisine to the Hill Country as well as create jobs and income for some of their members. SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13