Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
Baptist and Reflector
BRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptists are being asked to join other Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers in helping flood victims in Missouri and Arkansas and they have responded, said Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
The Midwest has been slammed by severe flooding, CNN reported. Floods have killed five people in Missouri and seven in Arkansas, the news service added. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
KNOXVILLE — He’s known as the “Tennessee Squirrel” or the tree climber among Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers. Children seeing him swinging around in a tree with ropes have called him Spiderman.
He is James Brown, a Tennessee Baptist disaster relief volunteer. Brown not only climbs and swings from ropes in trees, he manhandles a chain saw. The trees have been damaged by storms or fires and need repair or removal. Many times the trees are reached by volunteers working from bucket trucks, but sometimes the trucks can’t be used. [Read more…]
By Carolyn Tomlin
Contributing Writer, B&R
BROWNSVILLE — When the call came a few years ago from Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief to assist people who had been affected by an ice storm in Missouri, Woodland Baptist Church here responded.
In the summer of 2016, the team once again loaded up trucks and equipment and headed to Louisiana to help flood victims when the mighty Mississippi River overflowed. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Disaster relief volunteers of Knox County Association of Baptists work on some trees at the site of a burned home in Gatlinburg.
GATLINBURG — Disaster relief fire response “is so different … . We can’t go door to door saying, ‘Hey, we’re here for you,’ because there are no doors,” explained Kaye Thomas of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, referring to the hundreds of homes destroyed here by fires three months ago.
“But our yellow hats and blue shirts out on the mountains have really impressed people,” she added.
The Nov. 28 fires in Sevier County took 14 lives, left 160 people injured, and destroyed or damaged 2,800 structures including three Tennessee Baptist churches. [Read more…]
Baptist Press
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders celebrated the ministry’s 50th anniversary during their annual conference, Jan. 23-27. -Photo by Jane Rodgers/Southern Baptist TEXAN
DENTON, Texas (BP) — Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders throughout North America met for their annual “Round Table” meeting and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of SBDR.
Representatives from nearly all the state Baptist conventions participated in the Jan. 23-27 event at Camp Copass in Denton, Texas. Portions of the week focused on celebrating five decades of ministry efforts, looking at the present state of the ministry and preparing for the future.
“Fifty years represents a significant event for us,” said Mickey Caison, the executive director of SBDR at the North American Mission Board. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
MORRISTOWN — Nolachucky Baptist Association disaster relief, based here, with help from Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, is delivering four tractor trailer loads or about 236 sets of mattresses and box springs to Louisiana flood victims, reported Don Owen, director of disaster relief.
Owen learned of the need at the end of November from a ministry partner and Louisiana Baptist, Johnny Huffman of Covington, La. Huffman knew that Nolachucky Association had sent mattresses to Israel through the Harvest of Israel project of the association and First Baptist Church, Morristown. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB Executive Director
Randy C. Davis
The news media may have moved on, and that’s okay. As we say, Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers get there when the disaster hits and stay long after the media has left.
And that’s definitely the case in Sevier County where November’s wildfires devastated countless homes, businesses, and woodlands. Tennessee Baptists have been well represented as hundreds of committed volunteers have served — and continue to serve — thousands in their time of need. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
GATLINBURG — One month after a devastating fire swept through the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg residents are still picking up the pieces, literally.
Hundreds of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have provided assistance since relief efforts began. Volunteers have done everything from providing hot meals and sack lunches to clearing charred trees off property and some demolition to sifting through ashes and debris in hopes of finding a family heirloom or simply an item with only sentimental value. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Charles Campbell, pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church, Ocoee, stands outside the Family Life Center of the church which was damaged by a Nov. 30 tornado which left two people dead there while the storm left two other people dead in the Decatur area.
OCOEE — Two people known by members of Shiloh Baptist Church here died in the Nov. 30 F-3 tornado which struck the community. The couple, new residents, rented a home from members of the church, reported Charles Campbell, pastor. A mother of one of those who died lost her home though she is okay, he added.
“We’ve had to do a lot of grief counseling and support in that way,” said Campbell.
About 60 families lost their homes or suffered substantial damage to their homes here including about eight families of Shiloh Baptist, he added. Also the church building was damaged.
By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director
Randy C. Davis
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Churches charred. Businesses gone. Homes nothing but ash heaps and rubble. Some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen left a blackened wasteland.
A few hours of raging fire forever changed the lives of thousands.
One of those homes on top of one of those mountains belonged to the late Dr. Clyde Martin and his precious widow, Ruth. The families of their son, Mark, and their daughter, Debbie, also had homes there. All three houses and all the cars were destroyed. The Martin family lost everything and very nearly lost their lives. Downed trees blocked their driveway but they crawled into a truck with a nearby family and raced down the mountain to safety. My wife, Jeanne, and I sat and listened as they told how God orchestrated a way out of the inferno. We wept; we prayed. [Read more…]
