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Storm survivors pledge ‘whatever it takes’


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The rash of tornadoes that wreaked havoc across a four-state area Feb. 5 laid waste to thousands of buildings and took dozens of lives, but in the midst of the devastation Southern Baptists stepped up to help.

In hard-hit Tennessee, the storms took 33 lives in seven counties -– about a third of those in Macon County alone. The suffering there was compounded two days later when a pastor and his family were killed in a car crash while they were on their way to minister to tornado victims.

At First Baptist Church in Lafayette on Feb. 10, a disaster relief unit from Hardeman County Baptist Association was serving hot meals to residents and relief workers while pastor Don Jones and other volunteers talked with residents about their losses, The Tennessean newspaper recounted. The congregation also was hosting 16 Baptist chainsaw crews and organizing daycare for children who would be unable to attend school for at least another week.

The tragic deaths of Michael Welch, pastor of Lafayette United Methodist Church, his wife Julie and their two children stunned a community already numb with grief. At First Baptist Church, members of the congregation read the 23rd Psalm together and strengthened their resolve to demonstrate how God’s love can pull a community through even the worst disaster.

“We are going to do whatever it takes, however long it takes, to help keep this community together,” Jones said.

The tornado that took such a toll in Macon County also blasted other communities as it ground out a 50-mile path of destruction from Castalian Springs, Tenn., into southern Kentucky.

Cragfont Baptist Church opened its doors as a refuge for families of Castalian Springs in eastern Sumner County, where seven people died in the storm. Three families spent the night at the church, where stockpiles of food, bottled water and other necessities were being distributed by volunteers to people in need.

A crowd of about 300 attended services at Cragfont Feb. 10, where Willie McLaurin, the congregation’s interim pastor, reminded them that God’s grace could help them through the crisis.

“When the severe storms come our way, we often feel like things are out of our control,” McLaurin said, according to The Tennessean. “Guess what? The storms came, and we’re still here. The storms ought to make each one of us take inventory of our lives and get rid of some extra cargo we don’t need.”

The volunteer response to the disaster has been heartwarming, said Mark Merryman, a deacon at the Cragfont church. An estimated 1,500 volunteers, many from local churches, made their way to the Chamber of Commerce building in nearby Gallatin Feb. 9 to help with cleanup at Castalian Springs.

A man from Texas arrived at the church with a truckload of portable heaters. “It was like he showed up with gold,” Merryman said.

Another volunteer, Jeanette Barton of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, was sifting through the remains of Edward Sexton’s home in Castalian Springs when she came across a muddy photo. Sexton, who had 70 stitches across his face from injuries suffered during the storm, smiled when Barton handed it to him.

“This was from my daughter’s birthday party when she was little,” he told The Tennessean. “It’s amazing to find anything…. I’m just so grateful.”

While insurance companies and the Red Cross will be calculating the financial toll of the disaster, no one can put a dollar value on ministry to people in crisis, said Cragfont’s pastor, Willie McLaurin.

“It goes to show when your heart is in the right place, God will use you to help people,” he said.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention’s disaster relief crews spread out across the state, along the path cut by the storms. Chainsaw crews from three associations responded to a need in Shiloh Baptist Association at Adamsville, in southwestern Tennessee near the Mississippi state line, said David Acres, the convention’s disaster relief coordinator. A team from Nolachucky Baptist Association in eastern Tennessee mobilized to transport a generator to Hartsville in central Tennessee, where it was used to provide power for emergency operations based in the community’s city hall.

Arkansas Baptists deployed feeding units, chainsaw teams and chaplains in that state after tornadoes killed at least 13 people in 12 counties. Among the deaths reported in Arkansas was Fountaine Bayer, a member of First Church of Clinton and the mother of John Bayer, a Southern Baptist representative in Mexico.

Three church buildings in Arkansas were damaged in the storm, and the home of Kyle Blanton, pastor of Pee Dee Baptist Church in Clinton, was completely destroyed. Blanton, his wife and their four children were at home at the time and escaped injury.

Gary Wise, pastor of a Baptist church in Gassville that lost its steeple and sustained damage to the sanctuary, said the ministry his church was receiving in the storm’s aftermath drove home the importance of disaster relief efforts.

“We are thankful and grateful for the many Arkansas Baptists, fellow Christians, that have come to help us,” Wise told the Arkansas Baptist News. “As an Arkansas Baptist, I take pride in knowing that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ care enough to take time out to reach out to us. It is overwhelming.

“As a church that is part of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, we know about disaster relief ministries. We give to disaster relief ministries. But until you are on the receiving end of this ministry, you don’t know how much it means to you.”

David Patty had a similar experience in Alabama, where one person was killed and four dozen homes were destroyed along a 10-mile path in the Sand Mountain Baptist Association.

That association’s disaster response teams are some of the first to mobilize when a crisis emerges, but this time it’s the neighbors coming to their aid, said Patty, the association’s director of missions. Three sister associations sent volunteer teams to help, and the state convention released funds to help feed 500 or more people a day.

“I’m not used to working this side of disaster relief,” Patty told The Alabama Baptist. “It’s pretty overwhelming, but it’s all falling into place, thanks to all the help we’re getting.”

The Kentucky Baptist Convention mobilized disaster relief volunteers to the central Kentucky towns of Cecilia and Brandenburg and to Monroe and Muhlenberg counties in the southern part of the state, according to Coy Webb, the convention’s disaster relief associate. A 17-member chainsaw team is currently working in Cecilia and chainsaw crews are preparing to work in the other areas as well.
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Mark Kelly is an assistant editor with Baptist Press.

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  • Mark Kelly