When several Southern Baptist leaders visited New York City
recently, two residents got lost at tempting to transport them around the town.
There was no World Trade Center towers to serve as a point
of reference for the city residents.
When several Southern Baptist leaders visited New York City
recently, two residents got lost at tempting to transport them around the town.
There was no World Trade Center towers to serve as a point
of reference for the city residents.
“(But) Our reference point never leaves,” Southern
Baptist North American Mission Board President Robert Reccord noted following
the visit. “Regardless of what may come or what may happen, the reference
point of Jesus Christ stays firm and steadfast, so you dont have to be
lost when the bottom falls out. …
“Weve seen the bottom fall out and Gods people
stand up,” Reccord said after his tour of Southern Baptist disaster relief
and chaplaincy sites in New York City. “We saw broken buildings and broken
hearts – but not broken spirits.”
Southern Baptist disaster relief units from multiple state
conventions were in New York almost immediately after the Sept. 11 attack, along
with Southern Baptist chaplains. Volunteers at three different emergency ministry
sites in Brooklyn and Manhattan had prepared more than 100,000 meals by the
time the North American Mission Board team visited nine days after the attack.
Southern Baptist chaplains also had been given leadership responsibilities
at the “ground zero” morgue and Compassion Center for victims
families.
“Im so grateful for the more than 300 disaster relief
units Southern Baptists have made available across the country and that over
21,000 trained volunteers stand ready to serve at a moments notice during
tragic times such as this,” Reccord said. “The physical ministry of
our feeding units and other relief ministries give such credibility to the spiritual
ministry of our chaplains and local churches.”
That credibility was experienced firsthand by Reccord and the
leadership team as they visited ground zero, American Red Cross volunteer centers
and fire stations in the city.
“Because we were wearing shirts that indicated we were
part of Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts, people along the streets of
New York would stop and hug us and cry with us and just tell us how grateful
they were that we were here,” Reccord said. “We then had a chance
to tell them about the love of Christ that compels us to serve in this way.”
One such New Yorker was a fireman named Bill, who Reccord met
on the street loading supplies in his truck. “I just asked him how it was
going and how I could pray for him,” Reccord said. “He said they had
lost 11 firefighters from that station alone, friends of his whom hed
never see again.”
Bill said his wife usually goes to church with the kids but
that he had not been attending church regularly. “I felt led to share with
him the Blaise Pascal quote that There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart
of every man that cannot be filled by anything except God the creator made known
through Jesus Christ His Son, ” Reccord said.
“Thats what helped Bill realize that he needed a
personal relationship with God through Christ. Just as he made that decision,
his truck was called out. As Bill ran to his duty, he called over his shoulder,
Bob, keep praying for me.”
Reccords experience with Bill is not unique. Southern
Baptist volunteers are reporting that same kind of spiritual openness from people
throughout the city.
For instance, members of a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
unit from Kentucky helped eight people profess faith in Christ while waiting
for supplies to arrive at their unit. Meanwhile, North American Mission Board
Vice President Randy Singer helped lead a young pregnant, AIDS-stricken woman
to Christ as she visited a makeshift memorial.
“Ground zero may be six square blocks in downtown Manhattan,
but the effect of this is going to reach for miles and miles,” said Mickey
Caison, national coordinator for Southern Baptist disaster relief. “The
meals, the chainsaws, the shovels, all of these are doors for us to share the
gospel.”
The open doors continue to draw volunteers, such as Dan Lovin,
a pastor and volunteer chaplain from Mt. Vernon, Ill.
After his employer granted him two weeks of unpaid vacation
to volunteer as a chaplain in New York, Lovin visited the county sheriffs
office where he serves as chaplain. The sheriff there not only encouraged Lovin
to go but offered to pay for his plane ticket. The small church where Lovin
serves as bivocational pastor then collected a love offering to cover his salary
and expenses for the two weeks.
Upon arriving in New York, Lovin said he felt overwhelmed at
the size and complexity of the airport. A stranger noticed him. When he found
out why Lovin had come to the city, the stranger helped him hail a taxi and
paid the fare, insisting “you dont owe me a thing.”
Lovins miracle pathway continued. Arriving later than
expected at the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association, Lovin found the office
dark and wondered where to turn. A New York taxi driver insisted on driving
Lovin to the nearby police precinct, where the visiting volunteer asked about
spending the night in the lobby. The police captain insisted on putting him
up at a hotel. The next day, a Jewish acquaintance introduced Lovin to a Catholic
priest, who offered both sleeping and office space. Lovin also quickly was “adopted”
by two police precincts to serve during his stay.
“Thats just one of the miracle stories
we discovered during our brief stay in New York City,” Reccord reported.
“Southern Baptists are discovering that God wants to use them in powerful
ways in this great city.
“I encourage many, many more volunteers to come and join God in his work
here and, for those who cant come, to pray and give generously to support
others. Im sure that any Christian who comes to New York during these
days will find what we did – many broken hearts and many open spirits.
Now is the time to bring those open spirits the gospel that will give them lasting
hope.” (BP)