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RELIEF AND RECOVERY

March 18, 2020

Baptists jump into action to help those in need across the state

  • Jeanne Davis, left, and Maria Burton, right, congratulate Felipe who prayed to receive Christ as the two women witnessed and ministered to him during disaster relief efforts in north Nashville. Davis is the wife of Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board while Burton is the wife of William Burton, leader of the new churches team of the TBMB. — Photo by Lonnie Wilkey
  • Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff members, from left, Andy Gunn, Jarrett Scott (top) and Chris Turner help tarp a home in North Nashville. — Photo by Madison Turner
  • Dave Charlton, left, BCM president at Tennessee Tech University, and fellow Tech student Koti Medidhi move brush from a home in Cookeville that was damaged by the tornado on March 3.
  • Steve Tiebout, left, pastor of The River Community Church in Cookeville, goes over last minute instructions with volunteers from his church who gathered in the city on March 3 to help homeowners affected by the March 3 F-4 tornado.
  • Gene Cole, center (with blue cap), disaster relief coordinator for Riverside Baptist Association, based in Livingston, gives instructions to volunteers from Riverside Association who traveled to Cookeville to assist Putnam County residents affected by the March 3 tornado.
  • Volunteer Eugene Turpin of Crossville rakes debris at a Cookeville home destroyed by the March 3 tornado. Turpin’s son is a member of the BCM at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. Turpin joined the BCM in a cleanup effort on March 4.
  • Randy C. Davis, left, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, presents a check from Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief to Mark Davis, director of missions for Stone Baptist Association, based in Cookeville, to assist with relief efforts in Putnam County.
  • Volunteers from Inglewood Baptist Church, Nashville, pass out supplies to tornado victims in East Nashville. — Submitted photo
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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

VOLUNTEER SPIRIT SHOWN IN AMAZING WAYS

March 18, 2020

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

This church sign at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Donelson, which was destroyed by the March 3 tornado, is a timely reminder of God’s love, grace and mercy.

In the early morning hours of March 3, Tennesseans were awakened by tornado sirens across Middle Tennessee. In just a few minutes (though it probably was an eternity to those directly impacted), the storms moved on to another portion of the state.

The tornadoes left behind at least 24 fatalities, massive destruction and lives turned upside down. According to AccuWeather the total damage and economic loss caused by the March 3 tornadoes is estimated between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. That’s billion with a “B.”

And, after checking out sites throughout  Benton, Davidson, Wilson and Putnam Counties, that is not as farfetched as it sounds. Hundreds of houses in the affected counties were just piles of rubble after the storms moved through. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, Opinion Column Tagged With: Disaster Relief, Lonnie Wilkey

A BARKING DOG AND A MIRACLE

March 4, 2020

Minister and family escape death after tornado collapses house

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

Darrin Crockett and his daughter, Carly, sift through what’s left of their house, looking for any items that can be recovered.

COOKEVILLE — For the first in his life, Darrin Crockett is glad God did not answer his prayer.

On Monday night, March 2, Crockett and his family went to bed as always. Their dog, “Doc,” however barked incessantly throughout the night. Crockett remembers asking God “to make that dog quit barking.”

God apparently chose not to answer that prayer. As a result, the Crockett family is alive and well after an estimated EF-4 tornado blasted through their home in Cookeville, leaving them trapped under a pile of building materials and rubble.

Reflecting on that night, Crockett sees how God orchestrated their survival. Had Doc not barked most of the night, Crockett may not have heard his phone alarm signaling a storm warning. As a result, he and his wife, Jenny, and daughters Carly, Camryn and Carrigan took refuge in the laundry room, the only place they probably could have survived, Crockett said.

“We heard it coming and suddenly the house began to shake,” he said. “Next thing I remember is I felt grass underneath me. The tornado must have picked up the entire house dropped it in the yard with us buried underneath it.”


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A 2×4 board that fell across a turned over washer and dryer likely provided them enough room to keep from being crushed. Lighting flashes exposed what few openings there were and the family crawled out from the collapsed building with only a few minor cuts and scratches.

Crockett, associate pastor of Vine Branch Community Church and a school administrator and athletic director at Highland Rim Academy, both in Cookeville, acknowledged that their survival is a miracle.

“It is amazing,” he acknowledged. “If our dog had not alerted us, who knows where we would have ended up?”

Volunteers clean debris from what remains of the home of Darrin and Jenny Crockett in Cookeville. The couple were inside the home with their three daughters on Monday night, March 2, when it was struck by a tornado, collapsing the house on top of them. They crawled out of the debris with only minor scratches and cuts.

As he stood near the pile of rubble that once was his house and watched countless  volunteers salvage items and drag the ruins to nearby trash piles, Crockett knows without a doubt that God spared him and his family.

“We have tremendous peace and joy,” he noted.

Two things, however, “get me emotional,” Crockett continued — knowing how close they came to someone planning their funerals this week and the outpouring of support from the community. “It’s amazing to look around and realize we are not alone.”

Crockett knows he and his family are recipients of God’s grace. “I’ve seen God’s grace in so many ways and in so many places. This affirms it even more,” he acknowledged.

The outpouring of support from Baptists and other Christians, not only in the community, but from across the state also has been “overwhelming and amazing,” he said.

Baptists have received a lot of negative press across the nation in recent months, Crockett observed. “But when it comes down to it, the church does what God calls it to do. Nothing else matters in times like these,” he affirmed.

The Cookeville minister expressed his appreciation to Tennessee Baptists for their response, love and resources. “It’s overwhelming.”

Though they have each other, the Crocketts did experience a significant loss in the aftermath of the tornado. Their beloved dog “Doc,” who probably saved their lives with his barking, did not survive.

“He will go down as a hero,” Crockett said. “We will celebrate him and talk about him for a long time”

Editor’s note: If you would like to financially give to support the relief effort to tornado victims, please visit tndisasterrelief.org and click the “Give Now” button.

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

DISASTER RELIEF RESPONDING IN WAKE OF TENNESSEE TORNADOES

March 3, 2020

By Baptist and Reflector Staff

Editor’s note: This story was updated March 6. Additional tornado stories will be added to the website under Tennessee news as they become available.

First Baptist Church, Mt. Juliet

(Updated 11:50 am) Even as damage is being assessed, Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief (TBDR) teams are responding in the wake of a devastating EF-3 tornado that ripped through Nashville and traveled across Middle Tennessee as far as Cookeville today in the early morning hours, killing at least 22.

“We have local teams that have already gotten out and are trying to help people in Nashville and the surrounding area,” said Wes Jones, “Meanwhile we are working with emergency management services to better understand where we can deploy resources.”

Jones said that several people have contacted the TBDR offices asking how they can help. He said team callouts will be coming soon, but right now the best way to help in the effort is financially. Giving can be made directly to TBDR through tndisasterrelief Any gifts given today will go directly to “Tennessee Storms.” [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

DISASTER RELIEF VOLUNTEERS RESPOND TO REAL-TIME DISASTER

January 20, 2020

By Tess Schoonhoven
Baptist Press

Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers were repairing a roof damaged by recent tornadoes when they saw smoke rising from a house nearby. When a neighbor told them two elderly women were likely inside, the volunteers entered the house to find and remove the victims. — Submitted photo

MONTROSE, Ark. — On the morning of Jan. 16, two Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) volunteers found themselves responding to a present emergency — a real-time disaster.

ABDR, a subsidiary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) primarily focuses on giving aid to communities where natural disasters have struck.

While volunteers were working on repairing a roof damaged from recent tornados in the southeast Arkansas region, they noticed smoke billowing up just a few houses down the street. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, SBC Tagged With: Disaster Relief

TENNESSEE BAPTIST DISASTER RELIEF RESPONDS TO 18 EVENTS

December 27, 2019

Baptist and Reflector

MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers responded to 18 events in Tennessee, throughout the United States and in different locations outside the U.S. in 2019, according to Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Those responses do not include a number of responses done locally by DR volunteers, he added. [Read more…]

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WATSON RECOGNIZED FOR TENNESSEE BAPTIST DR WORK

December 13, 2019

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

Carolyn Watson holds the award presented to her recently by News 2 in Nashville and Hyundai of Cool Springs, but she is quick to point out “it is a team award.”

CLARKSVILLE — The tornadoes that swept through Clarksville in late October were not even over before Carolyn Watson’s phone was ringing.

Not only in Middle Tennessee, but throughout the state, Carolyn Watson and the disaster relief team from Cumberland Baptist Association are known for their quick response to disasters where chain saw and flood/fire recovery are needed.

Her involvement in disaster relief has kept her close to home as evidenced by two responses in Clarksville just this year as well as sending her all over the United States and literally around the world, including a trip to Japan after a major tsunami caused mass destruction eight years ago.

Watson was honored by WKRN-TV (News 2) in Nashville in November as a “Hyundai of Cool Springs Hero.” Once a month, News 2 and Hyundai honor a public servant “who goes above and beyond the call of duty.” [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

CLEAN UP CONTINUES IN TENNESSEE

November 12, 2019


Disaster relief teams from Tennessee, as well as Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri, are continuing to clean up trees and debris following straight-line winds that caused extensive damage across the state in late October. Teams are still at work in Clarksville, Waverly, Decatur and Adamsville, according to Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. He estimated more than 225 jobs have been completed but many more are still to be done. For more information, and to find out if teams are still needed, contact Jones at 615-371-7927.

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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

BREAKING NEWS: TENNESSEE DR RESPONDS, MORE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

October 28, 2019

Baptist and Reflector

MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams are needed in the aftermath of weekend storms that left major damage throughout West and Middle Tennessee.

“We have a lot of damage across the state from the Alabama-Mississippi lines all the way through Clarksville and surrounding counties,” said Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. He added that at least 14 counties reported damage.

Most of the damage was done by straight line winds of up to 70-75 miles per hour, Jones reported. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

TENNESSEE BAPTIST DR TEAMS STILL IN TEXAS

October 8, 2019

Baptist and Reflector

MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief flood recovery teams are still serving at First Baptist Church, Huffman, Texas, in the aftermath of tropical storm Imelda. Volunteers have seen six professions of faith since their work began.

Imelda dumped about 40 inches of rain on southeast Texas (from Beaumont to Houston) last month. An estimated 4,000 homes were flooded, said Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Jones said volunteers will be needed at least through the end of October. Volunteers interested in serving can contact him at wjones@tnbaptist.org.

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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: Disaster Relief

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