Georgia
For Hebron Baptist Church, Dacula, Georgia, building connections with families is a top priority. Last spring’s pandemic-related quarantine sent children home for their education. Hebron responded with a digital learning center in the church facility to help children focus on their studies and to ease parents’ burdens of juggling work and family responsibilities. Then, in August the church voted to build The Haven at Hebron, a maternity care center, for eight new mothers, ages 21 and younger, The Christian Index reported.
Florida
Having hosted a back-to-school bash for its community for several years, First Baptist Church, Lake Wales, Florida, improvised the outreach event due to COVID. At this year’s “Back 2 School Bash Drive-Thru Style,” volunteers handed out 250 hotdogs, 480 hamburgers and over 250 bags of school supplies in just two hours, the Florida Baptist Witness reported.
Louisiana
While racial tensions in America are high, disaster response in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana is building racial unity. There, disaster relief volunteers, most of whom are white, often find themselves in predominately black communities. As volunteers seek to address overwhelming physical needs left in the hurricane’s wake, much-needed racial healing also begins to occur, Louisiana’s Baptist Message reported. One white volunteer from Kentucky asked a black storm survivor for prayer requests. Her response: “That people would love each other.”
Mississippi
Mississippi Baptist Disaster Relief teams are among at least 10 state convention DR teams working in Louisiana after Hurricane Laura raked the state on Aug. 27, according to The Baptist Record. A 20-person team of mass feeding specialists has been working at the Salvation Army “super kitchen” field facility in Lake Charles, while chainsaw teams have worked in DeRidder and Moss Bluff. Assessment/chaplaincy teams continue to operate in the Deville/Alexandria area.
Tennessee
On Sunday, Aug. 23, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, Tennessee, baptized 51 people in an outdoor service, Tennessee’s Baptist and Reflector reported. Pastor Bruce Chesser believes the high number of baptisms, with people from the ages of 7 to 79, came as a result of church members seizing ministry opportunities, even amid the pandemic. The outdoor public baptism resulted in many people in the park and even at a boat launch hearing the gospel, Chesser said.
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