Mike Hensley
NEWPORT — Mike Hensley is well qualified to assess the response of East Tennessee Baptist Association’s 38 churches following Hurricane Helene’s devastation in Cocke County one year ago.
Hensley, director of missions and retired longtime pastor of Swannsylvania Baptist Church in Dandridge, has been involved in the life of the association since 1979.
He is extremely proud of the association’s churches following their response to “the worst disaster I’ve ever seen in the county. “Our churches have reached our community with the love of Christ in a way that I’ve never seen before.”
Citing the generosity and willingness of churches to serve their community, Hensley observed that “our churches have always been good to work together but I have seen them rally together as never before.”
Hensley estimated the association has helped 50 families with rent, furniture and repairs during the past year with the help of other organizations, including God’s Warehouse, based in Nolachucky Baptist Association, and Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center which has housed numerous volunteer teams. The number continues to grow, he said.
In addition, those numbers do not reflect the individual ministry of the association’s churches. “Many churches are doing things I don’t know about,” said Hensley, who is currently serving as second vice president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
The DOM is proud of how the association’s churches have grown in their love for one another and in their love for their communities. “They have seized the opportunity to reach out to people who do not know Christ.”
He also has seen some of the association’s grow numerically and spiritually since Helene.
“Although Helene was a major disaster, it enabled our churches to take advantage of ministry opportunities,” he observed.
Pastors in the association agreed with Hensley’s assessment.
“Our church really reached out to the community,” said pastor Rob Shepherd of Memorial Baptist Church in Newport.
Shepherd faced an unusual situation. He preached in view of a call at Memorial on Sept. 22, just five days before Helene struck and already had returned to Texas where he was then serving. “Our hearts sank when we heard the news,” he said.
After contacting church leaders, Shepherd learned the church and its members generally were okay (although some members were affected by the hurricane) and already were taking a lead in ministry in the community. He joined the church and preached his first sermon on Oct. 13.
Memorial Baptist served as a distribution point after the hurricane and church members worked tirelessly to meet as many needed in the community as they could in the name of Christ, Shepherd said, adding that they continue to do so. The church housed volunteer mission teams for 12 weeks during the summer, he added.
Though a tragedy, Helene became a unifying factor for Memorial Baptist, the pastor acknowledged. “It gave our church and other churches in the community an opportunity to lock arms and be the kingdom of Christ in Cocke County.”
Tim Grooms, pastor of Riverview Baptist Church, Newport, also has seen good come out of the disaster which flooded the church and caused it to meet at the associational office for nearly seven months before it could be restored. They returned to the church in April, shortly before Easter.
“We have bonded through this (the disaster) and the church has grown closer together,” he affirmed.
During the dedication service on April 13, Grooms said, ““As bad as things looked after the flood, God has restored us. And not only has He restored us, but He has also made it better than it was before. Isn’t that an amazing example of who God is and what He does for all of us?”
After the hurricane, Grooms said he quoted Romans 8:28 many times, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose. …”
Groomes has seen it come to fruition at Riverview. “God has changed our hearts,” he affirmed.
Randy Runions, pastor of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church, Newport, noted the churches and pastors in the association rallied together to serve the community. Runions described his church as a vessel because they had both a large building and parking lot that could be used for collecting and distributing needed supplies to area residents.
“Our people worked hard but a lot of others, both from the association and outside the association, came and helped,” he said. “It was unbelievable what God did (through the churches),” Runions said.
The association continues to assist flood victims through Cocke County Long-Term Recovery, Hensley said. B&R — Wilkey served as editor of the Baptist and Reflector for 26 years prior to retiring at the end of 2024. He is continuing to contribute to the B&R as a freelance writer and is also writing for the B&R’s partner newspaper The Baptist Paper, among other publications.
