2018 Hurricane Harvey

Point of Grace partners with LifeWay for new albums; Alabama conference center leader Buster Taylor caps 38 years of service; team from Boyce College treks to Houston for hurricane recovery work. Point of Grace partners with LifeWay for new albums NASHVILLE (BP) -- Grammy-nominated singing trio Point of Grace has partnered with LifeWay Worship to release a new album and will soon begin work on a second. "Sing Noël," Point of Grace's first album with LifeWay, features 10 new arrangements of beloved carols and Christmas favorites, including "Angels from the Realms of ...

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (BP) -- For generations the Navajo have often been on the receiving end of volunteer mission teams. Buddy Evans chaperoned one such trip in 1985. For two weeks his team led Vacation Bible School in the mornings, revival meetings in the evenings and, in between, explored the desert high country of New Mexico -- a stark contrast to their home in Port Arthur, Texas. Evans found the Navajo culture intriguing and the people's openness to the Gospel encouraging. Nearly a generation later Evans would again be encouraged when the Navajo Nation's first disaster relief team arrived at his flood-ravaged home and offered aid in the name of Christ.

NAPLES, Fla. (BP) -- In hurricane-devastated areas of Texas and Florida, Thanksgiving preaching might have been a unique challenge this year at congregations where homes, businesses and church buildings were lost to severe weather. Yet pastors in Texas, where Hurricane Harvey hit in late August, and Florida, where Hurricane Irma hit in September, say their congregations have overflowed with thanks this fall, and Thanksgiving preaching has turned out to be a unique joy.

Whether in disaster relief or global missions, David Hutchison notes that the Southern Baptist Convention "has long understood the power of cooperation. What would be impossible for one church becomes possible when churches work together."

Marc Ira Hooks recounts his trek along streets lined with water-logged, reeking heaps of belongings in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's onslaught across Houston and south Texas.

Marc Ira Hooks recounts his trek along streets lined with water-logged, reeking heaps of belongings in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's onslaught across Houston and south Texas.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- After Hurricane Maria knocked power out for nearly the entire population of Puerto Rico, the island's infrastructure is devastated and initial reports estimate that it will take months before services can be completely restored. On Thursday afternoon (Sept. 21), FEMA officials sought to organize a response in Puerto Rico with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) as well as American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

HUFFMAN, Texas (BP) -- Soon after Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Texas coast, pastor Mike Martin of First Baptist Church in Huffman made several visits around town, located 30 miles northeast of Houston, before the heavy rains hit the area. He stopped at the local volunteer fire department and told them the church was available if they needed help. Within an hour, they contacted him and asked if the church could be used as a shelter.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptists' Cooperative Program helped survivors after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; it will do so again in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey and, now, Maria. The SBC Executive Committee, in its Sept. 18-19 meeting in Nashville, voted to utilize overages in the 2016-2017 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget for disaster relief in two ways: -- Designating the first $1.25 million of any overage in the SBC's $189 million allocation budget for disaster relief in Florida and Texas by the Send Relief ministry of the North American Mission Board.

HOUSTON (BP) -- Mickey Caison has seen it many times in his disaster relief career. Well-meaning folks collect a truckload of food and clothing, drive perhaps hundreds of miles to a disaster zone, but can find no place to deliver the goods. Deciding "let's put a trailer on the lot and fill it up with goods to take to Texas, is the most ineffective way of providing support," Caison told Baptist Press from Houston, where he is coordinating the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) response to Hurricane Harvey's destruction there.