Church members unaccounted for, but peace prevails
 |
| Prevailing Robin Lambert, sensing a peace from God though her own house was lost to Hurricane Katrina, sits at a computer to record the status of fellow members of First Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Photo by Sherri Brown |
Lambert is homeless, her Pass Christian house condemned after 25 feet of mud and water filled it during Hurricane Katrina. But dressed in a T-shirt and cotton pants, Lambert calmly sifts through a stack of church member cards in an upstairs room at First Baptist Church, Bay St. Louis.
: : “I got up this morning and had to come see my friends,” Lambert said. She and her husband, Lloyd, are staying with family in nearby Gulfport.
Church bus trip rescues 48 nursing home seniors stranded after Katrina
COLUMBUS, Miss. (BP)--The racks above the bus seats held oxygen tanks, bandages and bottles of water, instead of luggage. IV bags dangled from twisted wire hangers above the heads of passengers.
The two Fairview Baptist Church buses, from Columbus Miss., carried a load like never before.
Two days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Tommy Gillon, minister of senior adults at Fairview, agreed to drive a church bus down to Biloxi to pick up eight nursing home residents who were stranded in a personal care home just north of the coastal city.
 |
| Mission of mercy Nursing home residents with IVs and other medical necessities make their way from the Biloxi area northward to Columbus, Miss., aboard a bus sent by Fairview Baptist Church. Photo by Tommy Gillam/Fairview Baptist Church |
“My mother is in Home Place nursing home here in Columbus and they called me to see if I could transport eight people from the coast back to their facility,” Gillon recounted. “They had beds open and were willing to take these residents, but needed transportation.”
Knowing that he would need to be self-supporting traveling into the area with no electricity and no water, Gillon started making arrangements for other volunteers as well as for transporting fuel and water. When he called Home Place to let them know plans were in place, he discovered the numbers had changed -– quite a bit.
Water becomes the lifeline for disaster relief operation
 |
| Lunch labors Volunteer Dixie Kennedy tosses a handful of onions into a pan in preparing lunch to be served by a Mississippi Baptist feeding unit at First Baptist Church in Biloxi. Photo by Sherri Brown |
“We’re serving 5,000 meals today [Sept. 1], but if we don’t get a water delivery this afternoon, we’ll have to shut down,” said Vernon Boteler, Mississippi disaster relief volunteer with the feeding unit set up at First Baptist Church in Biloxi, Miss.
Water and ice usually are the first supplies delivered to disaster sites, but they’re scarce this time around.
One truckload of ice arrived Thursday morning in this coastal town that was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. As people swarmed toward the truck as it set up in an empty parking lot, 20 police officers stood in front of the ice to hold back the crowds. Officers passed out the ice, allowing only one bag per family.
‘I just can’t grasp it all,’ minister & Katrina victim says
 |
| Lining up A serving line opens for Hurricane Katrina victims in Pascagoula, Miss., manned by Georgia Baptist disaster relief volunteers. Photo by Sherri Brown |
But not anymore.
Entire floors are missing from homes, while others have nothing but a foundation and rubble. Clothes dangle from trees, pieces of broken china dot the roadsides and swimming pools are full of brick, broken lumber and mud.
 |
| Filling up Georgia Baptist disaster relief volunteers fill Red Cross containers with food for delivery to Hurricane Katrina victims. Photo by Sherri Brown |
Closer to downtown, the destruction isn’t as obvious. Homes are intact, with trees down and some roof damage.
The locals compare stories as they stand in line waiting for food at First Baptist Church.
“I had six feet of water and mud in my house,” one woman said.
“I only had three feet,” another said, “but my daughter had water all the way to her attic.”
No water & ice yet; relief volunteers ask Katrina’s victims for patience
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (BP)--It’s been a rocky start for disaster relief volunteers setting up in Pascagoula, Miss. On Tuesday, four Georgia disaster relief teams heading for the hard-hit coastal town dealt with two flat tires, a breakdown of one of their trucks, hours of waiting at a rest stop with no working facilities, no dinner, no electricity and no water.
Arriving late to the staging area at First Baptist Church in Pascagoula, volunteers found residents who were even more tired, more thirsty and more frustrated. By Wednesday morning, church members hosting the volunteers requested security from the National Guard.
After Ivan, churches shine light amid storm’s destruction
 |
| Lost homes Hurricane Ivan damaged thousands of houses like this one across Florida and the southeast. Many houses were destroyed while others were damaged by the wind and rains. Photo by Sherri Brown |
"This is the worst [storm damage] that any of the old-timers can remember," Ron Lentine, pastor of Myrtle Grove Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., told Baptist Press. "We've never seen this kind of tree damage. They tell us it may be weeks before we get power and water. But in the midst of this disaster we can be a light."
 |
| Pressing on Betty Jones, center, prayed during a Sunday morning worship time at First Baptist Church in Flomaton, Ala. Two trees fell on her house as a result of Hurricane Ivan. Photo by Sherri Brown |
Lentine had been working with a team of church members preparing to travel to south Florida to help victims of Hurricanes Charley and Frances. They never made it.
"I guess God had other plans for us. Now we're helping our own community," he said. "If through this disaster we can reach people who otherwise have hardened their hearts toward God, then God has made this redemptive."
Wind damage and flooding from Hurricane Ivan left much of the Florida Panhandle in pieces. Further north, tornadoes were spawned by the storm. More than 500,000 people have no power, no water and no phone service.
Evangelist uses fans’ passion to share his passion for Christ
BRISTOL, Tenn. (BP)--In the shadow of the Bristol Motor Speedway, just across from a booth selling Dale Jr. T-shirts and down from a fried Oreo stand, Ronnie Hill was making his pitch. “Get your free chance to win a Harley! All you gotta do is listen to me for 10 minutes.”
2 World Changers volunteers die from natural causes
ALPHRARETTA, Ga. (BP)--In less than a week, two adult volunteers on World Changers projects have died.
Biker church is where Jesus can ‘clean you up on the inside’
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)–As the general manager of a supply house, much of Gary Davis’ job was delivering equipment. On his route he routinely delivered to three different shops — each owned by one of three brothers. “One brother drank from lunch on, the second brother was rough and the third brother was a total […]
Church’s Cooperative Program commitment, at 20%, asserts ‘you can’t out-give God’
WEST POINT, Ga. (BP)--It's just "the best way to do things" and, besides, "you can't out-give God," are pastor Aaron McCollough's explanations of why Roper Heights Baptist Church in West Point, Ga., gives more than 28 percent of its $118,638 annual budget to missions.
