JEFFERSON CITY – The Apostle Paul explains in 1 Cor 12:12, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” He goes on to say in verse 27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” So it is with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.
Some volunteers are chaplains, some maintain the shower and laundry units, and some prepare meals. In the meantime, others provide flood recovery or operate a chainsaw. In addition, volunteers hale from every state that has a Baptist Disaster Relief organization. So, as Paul alludes, a chainsaw operator from the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention is no more or no less important than a mass feeding volunteer with Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief.
In fact, the greatest results generally happen when several states cooperatively work together, which is often the case. According to Gaylon Moss, Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief director, one such instance occurred in response to Hurricane Helene.
“We had a Missouri DR driver pick up semi-tractor and 48-foot trailer in Carlinville, Illinois that belonged to the Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief team and drive it to a Southern Baptist of Texas Convention worksite in Spruce Pine, North Carolina,” Moss related. “So, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is really a national network, even if the states operate independently.”
“We had been asked to set up a mass feeding unit at the Walmart in Spruce Pine,” explained Scottie Stice, State Director for Southern Baptist of Texas Convention’s Disaster Relief Ministry. “Illinois had a refrigerated truck we could use, but they didn’t have a driver,” he added. “Fortunately, Missouri stepped in and provided a driver that could bring it to our work site nearly 700 miles away. Missouri also sent us a forklift that we could use, even though it came from a different location.”
According to Roger Silvey, driver of the Illinois truck, delivering the truck to North Carolina wasn’t an easy job, either. More than once, he had to reroute due to bridges or parts of the road being washed out. He eventually ended up driving over a narrow mountain pass, called the Fork Mountain Road, that would have left anyone with white knuckles … even if they weren’t driving a semi.
As Stice recalled, though, the response to Hurricane Helene was not the first time state DR organizations have worked together to bring Help, Hope and Healing. It was just this past March when Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organizations from Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky sent several semi loads of hay to the Texas Panhandle to support farmers and ranchers whose pastures had been burned by wildfires.
“While some farmers were able to ship animals to other areas for grazing, several thousand head of cattle were still left without pasture or feed … which, in turn, affected the livelihood of hundreds of ranchers,” he related. “Through the unified efforts of several state Baptist Disaster Relief organizations, a number of ranchers were able to recover much quicker.”
NORTH CAROLINA – As part of a cooperative effort, Roger and Tami Silvey (second and third from right), who are part of the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief team, delivered a semi-truck that belonged to Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief to the Disaster Relief team from Texas that was serving in North Carolina. (MODR photo)
Of course, the practice of helping each other is nothing new for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Whether it’s been a hurricane in Florida or a flood in Missouri, teams from other states have been right there to help with recovery. During the response to flooding in Spencer, Iowa, Kansas/Nebraska Baptist Disaster Relief and Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief even provided a White Hat (Incident Command leader) to oversee part of a deployment that consisted largely of Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers.
“I know we often talk about what our own state Disaster Relief organizations have been doing, particularly if we’re posting something on our website or Facebook page,” said Gaylon Moss. “But Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is really a national network that brings help, hope, and healing to people in crisis. When we’re faced with a disaster such as the one Hurricane Helene created followed by Hurricane Milton, we quickly realize that none of us could provide an adequate response on our own. Over Fifty (50) disaster relief sites were needed across the southeast United States at almost the same time. It takes a large network to meet that many needs across such a large area. No one state convention can prepare over 1,000,000 hot meals and complete almost 3,000 work requests in such a short time, not to mention over 200 salvations that occurred!”