ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–“Our president has been faithful in calling the nation to prayer, and now Southern Baptists need to be faithful to pray for the millions affected by the devastating hurricane in the Gulf Coast,” said Robert E. (Bob) Reccord in calling 16 million Southern Baptists to prayer.
Reccord was responding to President George Bush’s call for a day of prayer and remembrance this Friday, Sept. 16th. Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) which coordinates Southern Baptists’ vast disaster relief network, attended a White House briefing last week and suggested Bush declare a day of prayer.
Reccord encouraged SBC churches, associations, state conventions and entities to heed the president’s call to prayer in whatever way the Holy Spirit leads.
“So often we talk about prayer, and we even say we’ll pray, but at this crucial time, we must not turn our back on our nation and those whose lives have been turned upside down by not carrying them to the Father who loves them,” Reccord said.
NAMB reported Sept. 12 that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have served more than 2 million meals since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast two weeks ago. Most meals served by the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army are prepared by SBC volunteers which so far number more than 5,000 from 33 state Baptist conventions. Southern Baptists are the third largest disaster relief organization in North America with more than 30,000 trained volunteers and 600 mobile disaster units.
Several business friends of the SBC’s domestic mission board have a full-page advertisement Sept. 12 in USA Today newspaper, the largest circulation daily newspaper in the country. The ad which appeared in the first section of the paper depicted an SBC Disaster Relief volunteer ministering to a hurricane survivor.
The USA Today ad, which will be repeated later in the week, provides basic information about the scope of Southern Baptists’ disaster network and Katrina response and encourages USA Today’s 2 million readers to make a donation via a toll-free number, 1-888-571-5895, or online at www.NAMB.net. Contributions to offset direct costs also may be sent to state conventions, associations and churches responding to the effort.
To date, donations have surpassed $2.4 million.
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