Current Ministry Structure

God has grown Desire Street Ministries into a multi-state work, with a vision to work with others in the Christian community to eradicate poverty in the United States and beyond.

Through the Urban Institute, DSM seeks out, equips and encourages urban ministers who are called to inner-city ministry. The Urban Institute also offers summer internships to college students wanting to explore a career in urban ministry, while providing theological and hands-on ministry training for indigenous leaders from the inner-city community.

In New Orleans, DSM continues the original ministry to the Upper Ninth Ward, focusing on post-Katrina redevelopment, youth ministry and neighborhood support groups.

In Baton Rouge, DSM oversees Desire Street Academy for African American junior and senior high males from Baton Rouge and New Orleans who would normally "fall through the cracks" in public education. We hope to instill in these young men a passion to use this opportunity for an excellent education in academics, athletics and the arts to "give back" to their neighborhoods.

DSM's first replication work, St. Roch Community Church in the Eighth Ward of New Orleans, is currently transitioning to become a stand-alone ministry. This multi-cultural church plant is reaching out to the St. Roch and St. Claude neighborhoods with regular worship, outreach activities, youth ministry, and housing initiatives.

Through strategic partnerships with ministries such as Common Ground Montgomery, DSM has been able to expand its reach to urban ministries in other cities and hopes to soon be able to establish relationships in other major cities in the southeastern United States and beyond. (Please check back soon to read more about this.) Encouraging, equipping and supporting the calling of others, in addition to concentrating on our own managed works, will more quickly achieve the goal of a Christian movement to eradicate poverty in this country.