• The disaster relief team of Community Baptist Church, Maylene, in Shelby Baptist Association has aided tornado survivors since April 27. We chose to stay local for our minimissions week July 28–31 to help out a family in need. We partnered with Toomer’s for Tuscaloosa to help rebuild and decorate a trailer for the Lester family in Cordova.
James Lester is a Jasper police officer, and he and his wife, Misty, have four children. They lost everything in the tornado, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied their claims numerous times. We finished up the week with a housewarming party and worship service July 31 at 5:45 p.m. at the Lesters’ home.
I hope this story will remind people of the numerous needs that so many in our state still have, and while the government may take credit for the aid given, it is truly God’s flock tending to others.
Mandy Hays
Community Baptist Church, Maylene
• The Day of Hope for Marion County (previously called the Day of Hope for Hackleburg) was Aug. 6 at First Baptist Church, Hackleburg.
Sponsored by Marion and Morgan Baptist associations and Friendship Baptist Church, Grand Bay, the block party hosted more than 170 people in the Hackleburg area and gave away several prizes, including more than $2,000 in gift cards, two 32-inch televisions and more than 500 packets of school supplies.
Jack Bailey, pastor of Danville Baptist Church, said the people who won the prizes were very deserving since they lost everything they owned in the April 27 tornado.
Around 75 volunteers from Danville Baptist cooked the food — hot dogs and hamburgers — and set up the stage for their Interim Music Minister Doug Seaver, who performed during the event. Volunteers from the church also set up the inflatables and game booths.
Nine Marion Association churches volunteered at the event: Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Hamilton; Kemp Chapel Baptist Church, Hamilton; Hines Memorial Baptist Church, Bear Creek; First, Hackleburg; Mount Olive Baptist Church, Hackleburg; Mount Zion Baptist Church, Hamilton; Shiloh Baptist Church, Hamilton; Antioch Baptist Church, Phil Campbell; and New Hope Baptist Church, Guin.
Although church members were the ones to go and serve people in need, they were the ones blessed in the process, Bailey said.
• Mobile chapels being distributed by Alabama Baptist disaster relief following damage done by the April 27 tornadoes have been placed at the following church sites:
– Boone’s Chapel Baptist Church, Prattville, Autauga Baptist Association (following an April 15 tornado) — one unit
– Mount Hebron East Baptist Church, Eclectic, Elmore Baptist Association — one unit
– Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, Franklin Baptist Association — two units
– Emmanuel Baptist Church, Hackleburg, Marion Baptist Association — one unit
– Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Spring Garden, Cherokee Baptist Association — one unit
– Concord Highland Baptist Church, Hueytown, Bessemer Baptist Association — two units
– First Baptist Church, Wellington, Calhoun Baptist Association — two units
• Filled with school supplies, 230 backpacks were delivered Aug. 16 to Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, in Franklin Baptist Association and Mount Olive Baptist Church, Hackleburg, in Marion Baptist Association. The backpacks and supplies were donated by several churches in Michigan.
The supplies were delivered to the two churches who then distributed to schools in Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. Pastor Elton Spurgeon and his wife of Thornhill Baptist Church, Hudson, Mich., brought some of the supplies, which included items for teachers.
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