Southern Baptists Serve with Compassion through Disaster Relief

We are still seeing the devastation wrecked upon the Florida Gulf Coast from Hurricane Michael making landfall on October 10 just west of Mexico Beach, FL.  The fourth-strongest storm to ever make landfall and the worst one to ever hit the panhandle of Florida sweeping up into Alabama and Georgia.  Florida Governor Rick Scott called the storm "an absolute monster."

Just about every church in the area had some type of damage including The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville having moderate to severe damage.

Just as it's been doing for over 50 years, Southern Baptists have been there when disasters hit.  In the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, volunteers wearing their signature bright yellow T-shirts and caps have been there on the ground showing the compassion of Christ.

There are more than 70,000 trained volunteers and 1,550 mobile units for feeding, chainsawing, mudouts, child care, showers and more.  SBDR has become the nation's third-largest mobilizer of trained disaster relief volunteers, only followed by the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army.

The North American Mission Board has helped coordinate the work of the SBDR through state conventions.  42 state conventions have their own disaster relief ministries including Alabama.

Mark Wakefield, disaster relief strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions has been organizing teams from all our state to help in areas of Dothan where two churches received significant damage during the storms plus hundreds of homes affected.  Then on to Florida to help assist with the ministry there.

In previous storms, President Donald Trump visited an SBDR site at Temple Baptist Church in New Bern, North Carolina and just this week Vice-President Pence visited Hiland Park Baptist Church in Panama City and the surrounding neighborhood that was hit hard.

The North American Mission Board reports that more than 500,000 meals have been served to Hurricane Micael survivors, aided nearly a thousand residents in clearing their yards and homes of downed trees and helped more than 200 homeowners meet their temporary roofing needs.

If you would like to give where you know 100% of every dollar given goes directly to aid, then click here.  It's the Alabama Disaster Relief site.

This Sunday, I will share the second part of the message based on Psalm 85:6 with a message entitled "Joy Stealers."  The amazing Hope Puppets continue to share their message of "Incredible Grace" tomorrow at 3 and 6 and then three shows on Sunday.  Click here for free tickets.