By Zoë Watkins
zwatkins@tnbaptist.org
A family of six stands outside the trailer that was purchased using Connie Kurbis’ donation.
CLEVELAND — “And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Matthew 10:42
This verse comes to mind amid the generosity that’s been poured into the disaster relief efforts for East Tennessee. For those who have donated, they know it’s not how much you give, but rather how you give.
“If you have something and you can help somebody, it’s better to lay your treasures up in heaven than to lay them here,” said Connie Kurbis of Cleveland.
After seeing the need in East Tennessee, Kurbis prayed and asked the Lord what she should do with the resources she had been left with. Then she knew.
Using funds from a cashed CD left by her husband who passed away several years ago, Kurbis donated $15,000 to the TBMB to purchase a camper for Arise and Build. That camper went to a family in need experiencing financial hardship. “Those people were in need, and I had a way to help them,” said Kurbis. “I just felt like that’s what God would have me do.
“I could not stand the thought that little kids or (elderly) people or anyone being out in the cold.”
Kurbis, who’s 83, is on a fixed income and emphasizes she’s “no rich person,” but she will say that she’s very blessed. “I thank God every night when I go to bed that I have a roof over my head and that I’m taken care of,” she said.
When ‘giving back’ takes on a literal meaning
By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, said that he and his team were recently reminded that some people cling tightly to the idea that “it is better to give than to receive.”
The series of events started several weeks ago when Jones discovered a bank envelope while he was cleaning out the interior of one of the trucks in the DR’s fleet of vehicles.
“I thought the envelope was empty until I picked it up and opened it and there was money inside,” Jones said. To his surprise, Jones found $1,100 in the envelope.
He spent the next several days investigating where the money came from. He said he talked to several DR team leaders who had recently used the truck in Upper East Tennessee, but no one seemed to have any answers.
Before long, however, they began to connect the dots.
During a recent response effort, one of the DR teams had given $1,100 to an elderly lady whose home had been damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Weeks later, when Jones found the envelope in the truck and asked some of the DR leaders about it, they did not immediately think about the gift to the elderly lady. But soon enough, they began to solve the mystery.
One of the team members eventually realized that the most likely scenario of what happened was that the lady secretly put the envelope back in the truck — without ever saying a word to anyone about it.
The team members said her story illustrates the heart of some of the people in upper East Tennessee, and said it was her way of saying ‘Someone else might need this more than I do’ — even though the team knew she had great needs herself.
The money has now gone back into the fund to help others recover from Hurricane Helene. — Donations to Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief can be made online at tndisasterrelief.org/contributions.
Generosity flows from one state to another
By Zoë Watkins
zwatkins@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Smithville Baptist Church in Smithville, Miss., recently donated $25,000 to the Appalachia Service Project and another $25,000 to the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board to aid in the relief efforts of East Tennessee and North Carolina.
Smithville Baptist has its own history of recovering from natural disasters, according to pastor Drew Gardner, after an EF5 tornado ripped through town in 2011. It destroyed the church building.
“But we were extremely blessed through that time, from churches all over the nation,” said Gardner, who’s been a longtime member of the church and pastor since 2021. “For the first time, we had to receive the mercy of God from other people, and that just put it in our heart that we wanted [giving] to be a part of our DNA.”
So, they’ve given and given — to churches destroyed by a hurricane in Houston, or by tornados in Oklahoma, and now, by the floods in East Tennessee and North Carolina.
“Over the last few years, God’s blessed us with a surplus, financially, so we’ve been praying about what God wants us to do with it,” Gardner explained.
He said this is a donation they’ve been praying about for several months.
As a congregation of about 200, they felt encouraged, through the persistence of one of their deacons, Phil Prewitt, to give to this need.
“He was really passionate about responding and being faithful with what God’s given us,” said Gardner.
He pointed to Matthew 25 as a passage to reference when the congregation was praying about this donation. In one verse, Jesus says, “When I was hungry you fed me, when I was naked you clothed me.”
But the disciples, in confusion, asked, “When did we do this?”
Jesus responded, “When you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it unto Me.”
Gardner explains, “Jesus identifies with His church. He identifies with his people. When we bless God’s people, we’re really blessing God.
“We’ve wanted to bless as we’ve been blessed and be merciful as God has been merciful,” he said. “And we’re thankful to be doing it.”
“I think biblically, you can’t deny, that if you really love the Lord, then you really love all His people, no matter what state they’re in, what nationality or ethnicity they are. We are all part of the extended body of Christ.”
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, expressed deep appreciation for Smithville Baptist.
Davis has deep ties to Mississippi, having been a pastor there for several years and is also a graduate of William Carey University.
“I couldn’t agree more with Pastor Drew about being the extended body of Christ,” Davis said. “God’s people have responded. We’ve seen an outpouring of generosity from more than 1,600 churches, associations, state conventions, SBC entities and from individuals who combined have given nearly $4 million.
“To adequately describe the magnitude of the destruction is difficult,” Davis added. “However, lives and property are being restored all made possible by God’s provision through His people.” B&R — For more information about how to serve or financial support the relief effort through Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, visit TNDisasterRelief.org/ariseandbuild.
