WORLDVIEW: Two modern myths take another hit
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--One of the first fatalities of Hurricane Katrina was the myth of American invincibility.
From hugs to clothing, evacuees heartened at relief center
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| New friends Nine-year-old Breanne, whose family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina, holds on to some new best friends -- stuffed animals she received at the disaster relief center operated by Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Slidell, La. Photo by Morris Abernathy |
Breanne is 9. Or, to be more accurate, “Nine and a half and fixing to turn 10,” as she says.
Hurricane Katrina may have robbed her of all her possessions, but it didn’t take her joy.
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| Listening & caring Janelle Bly of Slidell, La., who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina, is comforted by Margaret Bradley of Greenville, Tenn., among the volunteers staffing a disaster relief center operated by Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Slidell. Photo by Morris Abernathy |
“If I still have my doggie and my kitty, I’m happy,” Breanne said.
Fortunately for her, Breanne’s golden retriever Daisy and her cat Gracie made it through the hurricane unscathed, as did all of Breanne’s family.
Still, like so many others, they were left with few earthly possessions. And so they came to Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Slidell, La., a disaster relief center offering hurricane victims clothing, food and supplies -– all free of charge. In the church’s parking lot, a 100-foot tent covered the boxes and racks of donated clothes that would become part of the wardrobes of hurricane victims with nothing left.
Church members unaccounted for, but peace prevails
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| 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.
Executive Committee approves measure giving NOBTS funding stability from enrollment calculation while recovering from Katrina
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, Sept. 20, approved a three-year freeze in the calculation of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's enrollment, allowing NOBTS’ 2003-04 enrollment figures to apply to Cooperative Program funding formulas for the next three budget years.
‘Give them Jesus!’ SBC president pleads for disaster relief to Gulf Coast
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--While trudging through the rubble of a broken community in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina, Bobby Welch caught a glimpse of two tiny legs with blue tennis shoes and a flowery skirt lying under some debris.
“I got down on my knee and began to scratch around in the mess there, and I dug out this tiny little baby doll,” Welch, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Executive Committee members as he held up a small, dirty doll. “That thing has been through everything imaginable. I can’t imagine all the junk that’s in it. It’s just matted.
Kelley says ‘thank you’; notes unique chance to reach N.O.
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| Campus view New Orleans Seminary President Chuck Kelley describes Hurricane Katrina’s impact as fellow SBC entity leaders look at overhead photos of campus facilities in the toxic floodwaters. Photo by Van Payne |
Southern Baptists, he added, have a rare and unique opportunity to impact the city for Christ.
He spoke to Executive Committee members minutes after a historic vote ensured that several million dollars will assist in repairing the seminary, which has badly damaged by the flooding of Hurricane Katrina and has moved its offices temporarily to Decatur, Ga.
Solidarity & sacrifice mark Katrina response of SBC entities
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| Sacrificial giving Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, announced the IMB is giving $2.5 million of their contingency reserve funds to disaster relief in the Gulf Coast. “We ask that you will pray with us that the Lord will stay His hand on disasters overseas that we won’t need those funds until they have recovered in our reserves,” he said Sept. 19 during the Executive Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Van Payne |
The Great Commission Council, which is composed of these same entity heads, unanimously supported a recommendation by Executive Committee President Morris H. Chapman that the Executive Committee use beyond-the-budget Cooperative Program contributions for SBC national causes, received for the 2004-05 fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and during the first quarter of the new fiscal year, to support disaster relief efforts.
At a debris pile in N.O., Welch & visitors look heavenward
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| Compassion unfurled Paul Blonge, recently resigned pastor from Metarie, La., wanted the Christian flag he duct-taped to a street pole a few blocks from the Superdome to remind all who saw it of Southern Baptists’ concern for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. David Hankins (right), executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention; and New Orleans pastor Fred Luter assisted Blonge. Photo by Norm Miller |
Accompanying Welch into New Orleans, when half the city was still under water, were David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention; Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans; and Stephen Trammell, pastor of Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.
Arriving by car at Williams Boulevard Baptist Church in Kenner, the visitors walked into the church’s family life center to see about 100 state troopers, city police and other law enforcement officers from across the country being housed at the church for their post-Katrina operations.
IMB staff offered week of paid leave to help Katrina victims
RICHMOND (BP)--International Mission Board employee Joye Russell was eager to reach out to victims of Hurricane Katrina –- and as a disaster relief volunteer with training from the North American Mission Board and Red Cross, she had the skills to help.
IMB to add $2.5 million for Katrina relief
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The $2.5 million in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief funds allocated by International Mission Board trustees during their mid-September meeting in Pensacola, Fla., will go to help the ministries of Southern Baptist entities in devastated regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
