Submitted by philip on
By Brian Blackwell, Marketing Director
MOORE, Okla. – Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief team member Eddie Rhymes will never forget seeing first-hand a temporarily-erected memorial at Plaza Tower Elementary School, where seven children died when a tornado leveled the school May 20.
Filled with stuffed animals, flowers, flags and other memorial items, the memorial was located within view from the final site where his team was working before returning to South Louisiana on June 7.
“It was tremendously emotional to be there and realize how much death and destruction were all around you,” Rhymes said. “Trying to disconnect your emotions from the task at hand was difficult.
“We were literally piling people’s homes, furniture and years of memories on the curbside to be hauled away,” he said. “One lady said she could not bear to even look at what was left; she said she was going to push the remainder of her home down and move everything away.”
Such were the scenes that Rhymes and others experienced while working in Moore, where they were tasked with moving what remained of homes to the curbside for transport to a landfill.
Rhymes’ team of chainsaw and tarp crews – Louisiana Baptists from such areas as Ruston, Blanchard, Lafayette, Hammond, Slidell, Covington and Denham Springs – along with five chaplains, worked in Moore from June 3-7. Additional teams worked in the weeks after in the Oklahoma City area, through the final week in June.
The ministry by the team in Oklahoma was one of two states in which Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief crews ministered recently.
Tornadoes killed 24 in Moore on May 20 and 12 days later killed 18 in suburban Oklahoma City, while injuring hundreds and leveling homes and businesses. And on May 31, more than a hundred homes were significantly damaged in the St. Louis, Mo., area.
Ten Louisiana Disaster Relief volunteers arrived in St. Charles, Mo., on June 4, to do chainsaw work and debris removal from homes. Once that team returned, another team of 20 Louisianans arrived in the area to perform similar ministry efforts.
Tom Long, a regional coordinator with Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief, said additional teams will be sent to either area upon request of the North American Mission Board.
In addition to the disaster relief teams, Louisiana Baptist churches have contributed to the cause. Churches from throughout the state collected a van and a truckload full of items and delivered them to Moore for distribution through Southern Baptists on the scene.
The Louisiana teams are part of a larger effort by Southern Baptists, who are the third-largest disaster relief organization in America. According to a North American Mission Board Disaster Relief update report on June 18, chaplains in the Oklahoma City area made 10,665 ministry contacts. Nearly 900 gospel presentations were made, with 50 professions of faith. Of the 1,279 job requests received, 1,120 were completed. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers prepared more than 165,000 meals by the time the mobile kitchen operations ended the weekend of June 16.
“Southern Baptists continue to be a presence,” Long said. “They are highly recognized by their yellow shirts. When people see the yellow shirts, they know help is coming.”
Long said despite the heart ache and sadness that has come as a result of the tornadoes, the light of Christ has shined amidst the darkness. Each time a disaster relief volunteer visits a home, he or she prays and shares the gospel with the homeowner.
“It’s important to know that Christ is there for them and Christians care for them when there’s nothing else these families and groups can hold onto,” Long said. “They know they have Christ.”
With hurricane season already beginning, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief workers know that their churches and homes could be the ones receiving help in the near future.
“This time it’s Oklahoma and Missouri that need the help,” Long said. “This time next month it could be Louisiana and Florida.
“That’s what’s so great about disaster relief: We can pull together in times of need,” Long continued. “The results of that message being shared may not be seen today but [if it takes] 10 years from now before that person accepts Christ, we can know that we planted the seed.”
As of press time, more than $25,000 was given through Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief for relief efforts in areas affected by the tornadoes. Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief state director Gibbie McMillan recently delivered a $20,000 check to the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief state office. McMillan said that $900,000 has been given through Southern Baptist Disaster Relief to aid those who lost their homes in the Oklahoma City area.
To give, please visit www.lbc.org/disasterrelief or send a
check to Louisiana Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, PO Box 311, Alexandria LA 71309.
“Giving is very important,” Long said. “Right now, financial gifts and prayer are the two biggest needs.”