After a 30 minute drive from Brownsburg, Ind., Pastor Ernest Porter Sr. pulls up to his eastside church, Greater Galilee Institutional Missionary Baptist Church, in a 15-passenger van.
On this hot afternoon, he’s the sole passenger in his chariot.
To some it may seem like a waste of gas and space, but to Porter, that van is a prized possession worth every penny.
“Some people have offered to buy my van and I tell them ‘you can’t afford this van. It’s got too many memories,’” said Porter.
Ten years ago, his white Chevrolet Express van helped he and his family escape one of the worst natural disasters in American history – Hurricane Katrina.
A native of Mississippi, Porter arrived in New Orleans in the late 1960s after he finished his military duties. He loved his hometown of Woodville but moved to the Big Easy because there was ample construction and truck-driving work.
It was in New Orleans where he married his wife Pearley, raised his four children and served as senior pastor of Shiloh No. 2 Baptist Church for 31 years.
Porter said hurricanes are typical southern Louisiana weather so when reports began to surface of Hurricane Katrina inching closer and closer to New Orleans, he initially thought nothing of it.
“I’ve seen three devastating hurricanes. In 1965 it was Hurricane Betsy. The levee was broken near downtown New Orleans and the lower Ninth Ward was flooded. In 1985 I was on the west bank of New Orleans and Hurricane Juan came through. The water came into my house about 5 feet deep. Then in 2005, that was when the killer came,” said Porter.
On August 13, 2005 Porter purchased a 2005 Chevy Express van and intended to use it for supplemental income by hauling kids to and from school. He said due to the fact the van is considered a commercial vehicle, he had to wait several days before driving it in order to complete the paperwork and secure proper insurance.
He said a few days before the storm, he left town to finish the insurance and on his way back into New Orleans, he noticed residents evacuating the city. Shortly after, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. Porter and his family packed a few belongings, piled into the van and got on I-55 en route to his sister’s home in Natchez, Miss.
“The interstate was like an overcrowded parking lot. It only takes about two and a half hours to go from New Orleans to Natchez. It took us better than 16 hours to get there,” said Porter. “The coming in lane and the going out lane was both used for going out.”
Porter and his family were safe in Natchez, but still experienced some of the effects of the storm, including losing power. He had no idea the city where he’d raised his family, built his life and pastored a loyal congregation was going under water. His only connection to what was happening was through his daughter, who lived in Indianapolis, via cell phone.
“It was a hard feeling. It was a nightmare knowing I’d been there for over 41 years and there was no time in the future I could see of ever getting back,” said Porter.
On Aug. 29, the first opportunity he had following the storm, Porter put his wife and youngest daughter on a plane in Dallas bound for Indianapolis. He and his oldest daughter drove his white van from Texas to Indianapolis.
He said he went back to New Orleans that October and found much of the city still under water and his home and church destroyed. Nothing could be salvaged.
“Houses with a red ‘X’ on it meant there was either a dead person or dead animal inside. Houses with a yellow ‘X’ meant it had some things wrong (with it). Houses with a green ‘X’ meant the house was OK,” recalls Porter. “They had torn all the doors, walls and windows off my house. I could stand on my front porch and look all the way to the kitchen.”
Porter decided to return to Indianapolis and rebuild his life in the Circle City. Everything was destroyed and the majority of his 75-member church congregation was dispersed throughout the U.S.
He has managed to put the pieces of his life back together in Indy. For the past nine years, he’s served as senior pastor of Greater Galilee and has goals of building a bigger church and constructing a community center on the grounds of the church’s huge, debt-free property.
He said he’s still getting used to wintertime in Indiana.
When Greater Galilee Institutional Missionary Baptist Church member, Delores Thornton initially heard about Porter’s story, she encouraged him to put it in writing.
“He wrote the book Saved, Blessed & Delivered and as a publisher, I made sure his amazing story got published,” said Thornton.
Porter said he does miss big family gatherings in Mississippi and gets back down south for holidays every now and again. Of course he travels in his big, white van.
“My daughter told me I should name this van Noah’s Ark,” chucked Porter. “It was a miracle how this whole thing happened. God is good. He kept us afloat.”
