• For 12 days in late April and early May, members of Lake Martin Baptist Church, Dadeville, served hot meals to nearly 1,200 law enforcement officers, Red Cross personnel, local fire department volunteers and tornado survivors in the storm-ravaged area in Tallapoosa Baptist Association.
Lake Martin Baptist housed the command center trailers for law enforcement and the Red Cross. Church member Wanda Martin, who led the food service effort, said the opportunity to serve was “the most amazing experience” of her life, with God allowing the church to “work in His Kingdom and to minister right in [its own] back yard.”
Food was donated by local grocery stores, restaurants, individuals, church members, schools and Fat Boy’s Bar-B-Que Ranch of Prattville, which provided 400 plates of barbecue beef and pork May 7. On that day, more than 600 meals were either delivered to survivors or volunteers in the community or served to those in Lake Martin Baptist’s fellowship hall (which remained open to those in need 24/7). The church continues to serve the community by collecting nonperishable goods and distributing them in its neighborhood.
• On behalf of the people of Walker County, I am writing to express our heartfelt appreciation for the wonderful people who make up the Florida Baptist disaster relief team.
After the recent tornadoes that struck our state, some of the very first out-of-state responders to arrive in our area was the team from Florida. It did an outstanding job of helping our hurting people and representing our Lord in a very significant way. It has added its considerable resources to that of our own disaster relief team to help our families begin the long process of recovery from the devastating damage by very high winds and tornadoes that blew through our county on April 27. I have heard several testimonies regarding people who came to know Christ as personal Savior because of the team’s witness for Christ while it worked. Obviously the Lord is using it in more ways than the removal of trees and debris from people’s property.
We are so thankful for the team’s hard work and commitment to the cause of Christ in this special ministry. The team has been superbly led by Fritz Wilson, who is a native of our area and who, of course, heads up disaster relief for Florida Baptists. His work is marvelously complemented by his associate, Terry Ryan. It has been a pleasure to get to know these men and all the wonderful volunteers who came to offer their help and support during a very challenging time.
I am very grateful to be a part of the Southern Baptist family, who has a heart for people. I am also grateful for those of our Christian family who are willing to go much farther than the second mile by training and being willing to be a part of such a demanding ministry.
Reuben “Lucky” Teague
Director of missions
Walker Baptist Association
• The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) is providing one-day conferences — After the Storm: Ministry Support — for pastors, associate pastors and other church ministers and their spouses who were affected by the April tornadoes.
Endel Lee, national disaster relief chaplain coordinator with the North American Mission Board, is the conference leader.
Dale Huff, director of the SBOM office of LeaderCare and church administration, is organizing the conferences.
“We started from the very beginning trying to project out from the tornado time … when there’s possiblity of them backing off a little bit, pulling away and getting some sense of the stress it has created for them,” he said. “This also is an effort to help them best understand the stress of other folks and grief response.”
The remaining conferences are
June 23, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Albertville — 9 a.m.– 3 p.m. (last two hours are optional)
June 28, Mount Zion Baptist Church, Huntsville — 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
June 28, DeKalb Baptist Association office, Rainsville — 5:30–8:30 p.m.
No registration is required unless child care is needed.
For more information, call Sandra Lewandowski at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 316, or e-mail slewandowski@alsbom.org.
• Two mobile chapel units have been delivered to Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell. These make four units that have been provided and set up by Alabama Baptist disaster relief. Nine more are in the planning stages for other damaged churches.
Share with others: