"That old singing, that old praying which I love so much—that is the great strength of my being, of my writing," says the author of "A Lesson Before Dying" and many other critically acclaimed books.

"There's something happening inside of the hearts and minds of people that has brought us all together," says Rev. John Dee Jeffries of the First Baptist Church in Chalmette, Louisiana.

According to US government figures, more than 40,000 people have been brought in to help clean up the oil and deal with the crisis. But many in the fishing industry say they haven’t been able to get work, and they don’t know when they’ll be able to resume their livelihoods.

Watch more from New Orleans Roman Catholic Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Margaret Dubuisson of Catholic Charities of New Orleans, and Rev. John Dee Jeffries of the First Baptist Church of Chalmette on the spiritual toll of the Gulf Coast oil spill crisis.

Read more of Kim Lawton's interview with the Rev. Charles Jenkins, Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana.

They were once called circuit riders--itinerant preachers who went from town to town in 19th-century America to spread the Gospel.