JEFFERSON CITY – A former horse barn outside of town is now the “High Point Annex,” a storage place for Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Disaster Relief (DR) equipment.
With its 14-foot ceilings, and wide garage-style doors, the 18,000-square-foot building houses a DR forklift, four generators, water purification equipment, Gator four-wheel-drive vehicle, and a skid loader. Two mobile kitchens – each capable of cooking 35,000 hot meals a day – are parked there, along with two shower trailers. Eventual plans call for an 80-foot extension on the back of the High Point Annex that can house the 32-ton DR tractor-trailer and other large equipment. (This in addition to numerous DR units and trailers that will continue to be stationed at churches and associations throughout the state.)
The building, which was at one point converted to a warehouse for a computer manufacturer, is used for storage at the moment, but may eventually be able to host small meetings, and possibly include a large recording/video studio. It will become a DR command center, a maintenance facility, and be used for training disaster relief volunteers.
Most of the equipment had been stored at a DR building in Marshall. It’s location made rapid DR deployment harder, and the caretaker is no longer able to supervise the facility. The Missouri Baptist Convention sold that building this month for $300,000, and purchased the High Point building for $218,000 leaving $82,000 for renovations without any out-of-pocket expense.
“We needed it all here so it can be looked after and maintained on a regular basis,” said Dwain Carter, MBC director of DR said.
Even though it is sold, the Marshall building is going to add to the legacy of Disaster Relief and Kingdom ministry.
The Family Worship Center, a non-denominational congregation in Marshall purchased the building. Because of the testimony of Disaster Relief serving in Jesus’s name during times of crisis, they have expressed interest in becoming a Missouri Baptist church.
The brand-new eight-ton skid-loader is also a testimony to how God can work through DR. When Missouri crews responded to Hurricane Sandy, the aging forklift they brought with them was on its last leg. The transmission was failing, and there were no brakes.
“It costs more to fix it than it’s worth,” Carter said, “so I started asking around to see about getting something to replace it.”
Eventually Carter was connected to a member of Frederick Boulevard in St. Joseph who put out feelers to equipment dealers across the nation. Within hours, Carter received a call from a Komatsu dealer in San Diego, Calif. They offered the brand new loader with a price tag for half the going price, plus free cross-country delivery. The next day, a company in Nebraska called Carter saying they had a new set of pallet forks on a truck headed there as a donation.
“It’s just one more way God uses disaster relief,” Carter said. “Southern Baptists have been known for years for discipleship, worship and evangelism,” Carter said. “Now we’re becoming known as missional and that includes all those things, but it’s played out through your life. DR is one of those ways we show it.”
