ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–An allocation plan for more than $3.4 million donated toward Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts in New York and Washington takes a comprehensive approach in dealing with a crisis expected to impact affected individuals and families for years to come.
In broad terms, the plan allocates 59 percent of the money to “victim benevolence and counseling ministry” and 41 percent to the longer-term “ongoing response ministry” — including provision for supporting future volunteer efforts and a church planted in the affected area.
The plan, titled “Enduring Hope: Disbursing Disaster Relief Donations with Integrity and Impact,” was adopted by the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association and the Baptist Convention of New York at the recommendation of a task force that has addressed the issue since late September. The document also has been submitted to state conventions as a possible model for disbursement of their own relief funds set up in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Southern Baptists have responded to the tragic events of Sept. 11 with an outpouring of generous giving,” said Robert E. “Bob” Reccord, NAMB’s president. “Enduring Hope will ensure these gifts are used in a way that promises accountability and cooperation with local churches to touch hurting people in Christ’s name. Through doing so, we gladly acknowledge that it is the local church which serves on the front line in times of disaster.”
The plan was developed also in consultation with donors to ensure that the use of the funds would comply with their intent for how it should be used, said Claude Rhea, chief development officer for NAMB and a primary author of the allocation plan.
The document outlining the allocation plan states “the sheer scale of this catastrophe mandates a response broader, deeper and longer than any we have mounted before. We must retool our strategies to counter the sobering realization that 3,000 people lost their lives, 8,000 children lost a parent and 100,000 people have lost their jobs.
“Our immediate and long-term strategy will include multiplying and ministering through our churches in metropolitan New York,” the document continues. “Through them, Southern Baptists sustain a compassionate presence in New York’s diverse communities. Resourcing our congregations to provide a healing touch will effectively share Jesus Christ’s enduring hope with hurting people.”
Under the “victim benevolence and counseling ministry” category of the allocation plan, 40 percent of the fund that will go to “financial assistance through Southern Baptist churches and associations” in New York, Boston and Washington D.C., as well as to those in New York who lost their jobs because of the disaster.
Procedures for disbursing those funds will be developed by Larry J. Brown, a former energy company executive based in the New York area who will administer the strategy under a contract agreement, Rhea said.
Twelve percent will fund deployment of a “resident chaplain” to “oversee and augment our chaplaincy presence” in New York.
The chaplain will provide training for pastors in grief and trauma counseling, strengthen local church efforts to minister to victims and help pastors avoid damage to their own marriages, emotional health and ministry. Chosen for the role is Joe B. Williams of Oklahoma, an FBI chaplain who assisted in the aftermath of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
“We’re sending our best,” Rhea said of the two men, Brown and Williams, chosen to oversee the New York response. “The Lord has brought along two very competent point people for our efforts there.”
Rounding out the “victim benevolence and counseling” category, 7 percent of the money will go to assist state and local partners in funding traditional Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts of feeding, childcare, cleanup of affected apartments and similar ministries.
The category of “Ongoing Response Ministry” includes securing a “strategically located center” to house volunteers working in the area in coming years (26 percent) and funding for planting of new churches to provide long-term care for affected residents, including one ministering in the immediate “ground zero” area of lower Manhattan (15 percent).
Rhea said a new task force is being formed to determine how to proceed on the center. Decisions include whether to purchase or lease, and whether to co-locate with an existing church or use a separate facility.
Plans for the new church start in lower Manhattan also are progressing, with tentative commitments in place for meeting space at a large apartment complex near ground zero.
Rhea noted that although New York was chosen a few years ago as a site for Strategic Focus Cities outreach efforts over the next few years, the Disaster Relief funding and organization is separate from that initiative. He said it does dovetail well with those ongoing efforts, however, and the relationships and good will Southern Baptists have developed in the city likely will facilitate opportunities for ministry in the coming years.
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