With all of the 23 fires that burned through Southern California expected to be 100 percent contained by Nov. 4, churches have turned their attention to relief, ministering to the victims and firefighters as best they can.
All told, the fires have burned more than 500,000 acres from Mexico to northern Los Angeles County.
More than 2,000 homes had been destroyed by Nov. 2, with total damages of more than $1 billion in San Diego County alone.
Fourteen people have died from causes linked to the fires, with at least 133 injured, 109 of them firefighters.
In an Oct. 28 letter to members of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif., Pastor Rick Warren urged prayer for the firefighters, many of whom are Saddleback members.
Saddleback, one of the nation’s largest congregations, also scheduled church services Nov. 3 and 4 that publicly honored California’s firefighters.
The 120-acre Saddleback campus went untouched by the flames, although more than 28,000 acres have burned in the Saddleback Valley area.
Warren said in his letter that the church’s fire-evacuation center had become a clearinghouse for supplies and even a holding place for family pets and horses.
Workers at Saddleback’s center also fed hundreds of firefighters for several days during the fires, helped place evacuated families into homes of members, deployed trained volunteer chaplains to other evacuation sites and sent cleanup crews to some of the hardest hit areas in San Diego.
It’s the eighth national or international disaster for which the church has mobilized, so the disaster teams are quite organized and effective as first responders, Warren said. With a weekly attendance of 20,000 or more, the Southern Baptist-affiliated Saddleback makes a huge impact in disaster-relief efforts. But other area churches have contributed as well.
More than 120,000 meals
First Baptist Church, Newhall, Calif., has established three kitchen units for serving more than 700 meals daily. First Baptist Church in San Diego has set up a collection site for donations.
By Oct. 31, more than 550 Southern Baptists from the Nevada, California, Arizona and Northwest conventions were working at meal-preparation sites in San Diego, San Bernardino and Ramona, Calif., said Terry Barone, a spokesman for the California Southern Baptist Convention.
The number of meals provided by Southern Baptists has topped 120,000, with the California convention’s four kitchen units preparing up to 25,000 meals per day, according to disaster relief leaders.
As of Nov. 1, no Southern Baptist churches had been destroyed, Barone said.
Unfortunately Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church in San Diego, which belongs to the Baptist General Conference (BGC) and the Southwest Baptist Conference, did burn.
The BGC is mobilizing assistance for this congregation and others affected by the fires and has set up a special account to aid in the relief.
(Compiled from wire services)
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