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2020: A YEAR TO REMEMBER

December 31, 2020

Ministry created by tornadoes, pandemic dominate year’s top stories

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — The year 2020 began on a positive note with giving through the Cooperative Program at a high level for the first four months of the fiscal year and after a record-breaking year for gifts through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions in 2019.

Then came March — and life turned upside down, not only for the nation, but for Tennessee Baptist churches as well. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE DR VOLUNTEERS EXPERIENCE ‘DIVINE APPOINTMENTS’ WHILE SERVING

November 11, 2020

By Jane Rodgers
Correspondent, Southern Baptist TEXAN

Mykel Newman of Pineville, La., gets a ride on a skid steer with Tommy Wilson of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief. — Photo by Karen Wilson

ALEXANDRIA, La. — Pummeled first by the category 4 Hurricane Laura on Aug. 27, then inundated by torrential rains from Hurricane Delta only six weeks later, Louisiana endured a double hit prompting a multi-state response by Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers — including DR teams from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention — that is bearing fruit.

DR crews serving in the Bayou State after Hurricane Laura paused work as Delta churned its way inland. Volunteers returned to the field Oct. 11, as a SBTC DR administrative team assumed responsibility from Louisiana Baptist DR for coordinating SBDR recovery efforts based at Philadelphia Baptist in Alexandria.

Volunteers from Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana reestablished operations in Alexandria, with additional teams from Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska and Texas’ Jacksonville College expected to rotate in, said Wally Leyerle, SBTC DR associate and incident leader. Leyerle told the Texan much of the work based in Alexandria is a continuation of Laura recovery efforts and was expected to wrap up on Oct. 31.

Divine appointments

For volunteers like Tennessee’s Karen and Tommy Wilson, the deployment has brought unexpected blessings. The couple returned to Alexandria after serving two weeks there following Laura and spending a week at home in Martin, awaiting Delta. They are members of First Baptist Church, Dresden. [Read more…]

DR TEAMS PROVIDE ‘A STRIKE FORCE’ OF LOVE

October 21, 2020

By Bob Holeman
Retired journalist, Winnfield, La.

In August, Hurricane Laura dealt havoc to Winn Parish, leaving a tangle of downed trees, damaged homes and a spaghetti mix of wires, broken power poles and transformers that left us without power and in a communication blackout.

Our home got power back after 10 days but it was two weeks before our internet and TV service was restored. We then tuned in to see what damage Laura had wrought but found no coverage of a storm that had devastated Louisiana, for she was then two weeks old. There was scant coverage even of the wildfires that continued to rage along the Pacific west coast.

Instead the media, both left and right, seemed to focus their airtime on the acts of social and racial hatred that boiled over in a number of metro areas. They’d like to hold that this is what America is today: a Republic founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic whose wheels have fallen off after some 250 years; a nation that has turned from God and is so flawed with discrimination that it can’t be fixed. [Read more…]

DISASTER RELIEF CONTINUES TO MEET NEEDS LOCALLY, NATIONALLY

October 21, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Wes Jones, left, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, joins Butch Porch, right center, disaster relief unit leader for Woodland Baptist Church, Brownsville, and other DR volunteers from across West Tennessee at Philadelphia Baptist Church, Alexandria, La., prior to heading out to job sites in the area to clean up after Hurricane Laura. — Photos by Lonnie Wilkey

MOUNT JULIET — In September Wes Jones celebrated his fifth anniversary as disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

To say the former Southern Baptist missionary (along with his wife Pam) and director of missions in Iowa has been busy over those five years would be an understatement.

The humorous part is that during the interview process for the position he was told that there were not that many callouts. Most of his time would be spent training DR volunteers and having them prepared when needed. “I was told things would be pretty mellow,” he recalled with a grin.

Instead, “hectic” best describes the last five years of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief.

When Hurricanes Laura and Sally struck in late August and early September, it marked the 78th and 79th DR responses by Tennessee volunteers over the past five years. “What an adventure it has been.” [Read more…]

‘LAKE CHARLES GRIT’ TESTED BY TWO HURRICANES IN WEEKS

October 13, 2020

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers planned to prepare 3,500 meals for distribution Monday at The Bayou Church in Lafayette to serve those impacted by Hurricane Delta. — Submitted photo

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Trinity Baptist Church senior pastor Steve James calls it “Lake Charles grit,” an ability to persevere during hardship on top of hardship. “Grit up” is the local rallying cry after Hurricanes Laura and Delta hit western Louisiana just weeks apart.

“We had one hand tied behind our back, and now somebody blindsided us,” James said on Oct. 12 after Hurricane Delta, a Category 2 storm, hit Louisiana’s western Gulf coast Oct. 9, compounding damage wrought six weeks earlier by Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) and Send Relief are coordinating responses from several state disaster relief teams. In coordination with Southern Baptist partners, local churches and associations, they are repairing homes, clearing debris, serving meals and sharing the Gospel. While numbers vary, SBDR has reported more than 400 salvation decisions since Laura’s cleanup began, with more than 300 of those at Trinity.

One death has been attributed to Hurricane Delta, an 86-year-old man in St. Martin Parish who died while refueling a generator in his shed, Louisiana officials said Sunday. [Read more…]

DR TEAMS CALLED TO ACTION AFTER ‘SALLY’

September 23, 2020

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Mission Board disaster relief teams are being called on to assist in the recovery efforts from Hurricane Sally.

TBMB disaster relief specialist Wes Jones sent out an e-mail on Sept. 19 that alerted DR leaders that Florida has requested chain saw, tarping and flood recovery teams.

Jones asked that DR leaders from those teams contact either him (wjones@tnbaptist.org) or DR assistant Elizabeth Holmes (eholmes@tnbaptist.org) for more information. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE DR VOLUNTEERS RESPOND TO HURRICANE LAURA

September 21, 2020

Editor’s note: The story was updated on Sept. 21.

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Disaster Relief volunteers work on house where a tree had fallen during Hurricane Laura.

WINNFIELD, La. — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are in action, ministering in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.

Volunteers began arriving over Labor Day weekend, with the first team stationed at First Baptist Church, Winnfield, La.

On Sept. 19, the Tennessee Baptist DR operations moved to Philadelphia Baptist Church Horseshoe Drive, Alexandria, La. The DR operation in this area included teams from Weakley County Baptist Association and Brainerd Hills Baptist Church, Chattanooga.

Through Sept. 17, Tennessee DR volunteers responding to Hurricane Laura had compiled more than 3,000 work hours, and completed more than 60 chain saw jobs.

There have been 267 professions of faith during the response efforts from all DR teams (Tennessee and others), noted Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

“That’s the number that is most important to us,” Jones said.

Though Winnfield is 125 miles north of where Laura came ashore in Lake Charles, it was still a Category 2 hurricane when it hit the area, said Gary Brooks, a DR volunteer from Knox County Baptist Association and a member of Glenwood Baptist Church, Powell.

Brooks, who is serving as the team’s “Blue Cap” told the Baptist and Reflector on Sept. 9 that the team has been working in Dodson, about 10 miles from Winnfield. “This place is absolutely torn up,” he said. “If you drive down any street, every second or third house has a tree in the middle of it.” [Read more…]

KATRINA EVACUEES RETURN THE FAVOR TO CAMP BATTERED BY LAURA

September 9, 2020

By Brian Blackwell
Baptist Message

More than 30 members of Horeb Baptist Church in Gretna cut up trees and removed debris at Dry Creek Baptist Camp in Gretna, La., Labor Day weekend.

DRY CREEK, La. — The winds were still howling as Hurricane Laura blew through Dry Creek Baptist Camp Thursday morning Aug. 27, when camp director Todd Burnaman fielded a welcomed phone call from the pastor of Horeb Baptist Church in Gretna, La., asking how he and his people could lend assistance.

The members of Horeb Baptist, a Hispanic congregation that stayed at the camp for 33 days when they evacuated during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, were excited about the chance to repay the camp’s leaders for their kindness. The group of more than 30, along with staff from a camp operated by Florida College in Tampa, Fla., helped clear trees and other debris on the property during Labor Day weekend.

“We’ve remained good friends with Horeb Baptist 15 years later, and they have been a part of the Dry Creek family since,” Burnaman told the Baptist Message. “When Pastor David Rodriguez was on the line the Thursday of the storm asking if they could come, I didn’t hesitate to tell him to come on.” [Read more…]

DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS FOSTER RACIAL UNITY

September 9, 2020

By Will Hall
Baptist Message executive editor

A grandmother giving care to eight grandchildren and who had suffered house damage from Hurricane Laura said she just wanted ‘that people would love each other’ when asked by Jeff Free, a member of Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, about her prayer needs. She then had all the children join hands with her and the chainsaw team to pray.

ALEXANDRIA, La. – While racial tensions continue to claim national headlines, the multi-state disaster relief response to one of the largest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the country is serving as an opportunity to build goodwill between ethnic groups in storm-affected parts of Louisiana.

Hurricane Laura came ashore in the state with 150 mph winds and maintained its ferocity far inland, with tropical storm winds of 50 mph, gusting to 85 mph, recorded in Alexandria, about 130 miles north from where the eye of the storm struck the coast. The winds knocked out power to 579,000 homes and businesses in the state, but the total devastation in terms of lost homes and businesses has not yet been tallied.

In Central Louisiana, comprising 10 parishes, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief, alone, has received 900 calls for help regarding damaged homes and property during the first week after the storm. The enormous response, especially by a predominately white Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organization, has alleviated many physical needs, but it also has brought some racial healing.

MAGNOLIA STATE CONVERT

Bob Thomas, a member of Highland Baptist Church in Senatobia, Mississippi, experienced a moment of grace and growth on Saturday morning. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE BAPTIST DR TEAMS SENT TO LOUISIANA

September 3, 2020

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams have been called into action and will be arriving in Louisiana to aid with recovery efforts following Hurricane Laura.

Teams from Knox County Association (bucket truck, skid steer and chainsaw units), Nolachucky Association (bucket truck, chainsaw and skid steer units), Jefferson County Association (bucket truck and chainsaw units) and Woodland Baptist Church (chainsaw and skid steer) began making their way to Winnfield, La., today (Sept. 3).

Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, said other teams remain on alert, and said “follow-up teams” are likely to be needed in the days ahead. [Read more…]

Ministry created by tornadoes, pandemic dominate year’s top stories

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