The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) has designated Sunday, April 22, 2012, as “A Time to Remember” the disaster of April 27, 2011. That was the day 62 tornadoes tore through the state leaving 42 Alabama counties as officially declared disaster areas. Authorities called it the second-worst natural disaster in the history of the nation.
A reported 272 people lost their lives. Damage ran into the billions of dollars. Scores of Alabama Baptist churches were either destroyed or heavily damaged. It was an experience that divided time into before and after that terrible day.
April 27 also was a day that proved the Baptist system works.
Part of the Baptist system is unofficial. It is the compassion-driven volunteers who picked up chain saws and worked through the night to help get ambulances to critically injured people in Shoal Creek Valley or the persons who plunged into the debris to check on neighbors or the people who fired up grills to prepare meals for people left homeless by the tornadoes. As the people of God, that is what Alabama Baptists do. That is who we are.
Another part of the system is the network of trained volunteers who responded with feeding units that prepared thousands of meals a day. Other trained volunteers worked by cutting trees off houses, caring for children, even providing shower units where people could get a hot bath or wash dirty clothes. Trained volunteers provided communications where telephones and cell towers had been destroyed. They coordinated assignments for volunteers and supplies across the state and many other helpful tasks.
Preparation proved valuable
This invaluable resource was in place because of the planning and preparation Baptists had done through the state convention and local associations. Experience had taught that Baptists needed to be ready when disaster struck and on April 27 Baptists were ready.
This preparation has earned Baptists a national reputation. Southern Baptists are recognized as the third-largest emergency response organization behind the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
In a matter of days, Alabama Baptists contributed more than $3 million through the SBOM for tornado relief. About that much more was contributed to efforts led by local Baptist associations and churches. Baptists were at the heart of community efforts to rescue survivors. Baptists were among the first to assist communities in recovery. Baptists remain at the center of efforts to help rebuild lives and homes destroyed that fateful day.
This Sunday, April 22, most Alabama Baptist churches will take time to remember what happened April 27 and to give thanks for all the good things that have happened since then — all the recovery and rebuilding that continues. Some churches plan to observe A Time to Remember on April 29.
A major part of the day’s activities will be helping Alabama Baptists know the kind of ministries that have gone on in their name for the past year. Alabama Baptists will learn about the heavily damaged and destroyed churches and where those churches are now, about ongoing community ministries where Baptists have been the catalyst to bring people together to help others in the name of Christ and about what has been learned to help everyone be better prepared for the next weather-related emergency.
This information will be provided in a special commemorative issue of the state Baptist paper that has been prepared and sent in bulk to every Baptist church in Alabama that cooperates with the Alabama Baptist State Convention — more than 3,200 of them. The commemorative issue is 56 pages of full color telling the story of Alabama Baptists — the destruction, the rescue, the recovery and the rebuilding.
Every church is being asked to distribute these commemorative issues on April 22 and the days that follow to their active resident families. Most will simply ask those attending Sunday School and worship to pick up a copy of the special issue before they leave. This commemorative issue is not part of the regular issues of The Alabama Baptist. It will not be mailed into the homes of subscribers. Distribution is planned through the churches.
This commemorative issue is provided to the churches at no cost. Major sponsors — Samford University as the Platinum Sponsor and the SBOM as the Gold Sponsor — together with advertisers covered most of the cost of the project.
The state paper staff worked with a talented group of writers and photographers to tell the exciting and inspiring stories of how God used Alabama Baptists in the days, weeks and months following the tornadoes. Most readers will be surprisingly pleased to learn all the ways Alabama Baptists have responded to individual and community needs.
The SBOM and directors of missions from the associations have worked with the staff of The Alabama Baptist to alert churches the special issue is coming. In fact, every church should have received its copies by the time you read this column. Still some churches may not have gotten word about the commemorative issue and may be confused by the box of papers they received. You can help by making sure your church puts out the copies for its families this Sunday morning. And if you hear any question about this project, we would greatly appreciate you sharing the above information to help make sure that every Alabama Baptist family has opportunity to learn how God has used Baptists since the April 27 tornadoes.
For more information, call 1-800-803-5201 or visit www.thealabamabaptist.org.
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