Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief (DR) assumed leadership of the DR command center in Monroe, Louisiana, on April 10 with 18-year DR veteran John Hayes at the helm.
The Alabama teams are relieving Oklahoma DR teams. Both state DR teams and others have been working for weeks to minister to the area after a “historic flood event” hit in mid-March.
Recovery, shower units, laundry units and chaplain personnel have been engaged in DR since March 16 and will continue to provide assistance “that will now be complimented by white hat leadership, administration and logistics,” according to Mel Johnson, DR strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
“There are still areas with structures under water,” he said. “Please pray for volunteers that respond with ministry and a gospel witness for those in need.”
Hayes is coordinating efforts from the incident command center at North Monroe Baptist Church.
Since the incident command center opened, teams had received 297 requests for work and completed 176 at press time.
Hayes said teams from Alabama, Florida and Oklahoma that are stationed at the church are receiving as much of a blessing working on the homes damaged in the flooding as the homeowners themselves. “The main thing is we work with the people,” Hayes said. “We also minister to them as we try to get them back into a life of normalcy.
“It’s not about cleaning out the houses, it’s not about cutting the tree out or feeding them,” he said. “It’s to minister to the individuals. It’s about making their life better and to tell them there is still hope at the end of the road.”
(TAB, Baptist Message)
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