JEFFERSON CITY (MODR) – Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief (MODR) demonstrated the love of Christ, March 14, bringing help, hope and healing to Missouri communities following a night of death and destruction caused by tornadoes.
Hours after the storm’s aftermath, MODR volunteers met to assess needs and plan a course of action. Soon afterward, they set up response units in Rolla, Des Arc and Arnold. Heading the teams were Ann Stevenson, Tom Malott and Toby Tucker, respectively.
Disaster Relief Director Gaylon Moss also toured the affected areas to meet with teams and assess the needs. His first stop was in the small Ozark village of Bakersfield, where he met with volunteers and helped assess the needs.
Moss then traveled to Phelps County, where he joined Ann Stevenson and team members at the First Baptist Church in Rolla, where the American Red Cross had set up a shelter. According to Stevenson, the Rolla team received 133 requests. By early April, 86 of the jobs have been completed, while another 26 jobs were finished by other agencies.
“Of the requests we received, most were for tarping and chainsaw work,” Stevenson related. “In the meantime, FBC Rolla opened up their facility to shelter nine residents, while MODR provided several meals and offered showers and laundry service.”
While the volunteers initially focused their energy on repairing damaged residences, God’s love was also demonstrated through spiritual and emotional restoration of the residents.
“As an example, we had an elderly lady come to the Rolla shelter immediately after the storm knocked out her power,” Stevenson continued. “A few days later, she turned in a work request to have her refrigerator cleaned out. While this is not work normally provided by MODR, the local church filled in the gap and provided the help needed. A short time later, a MODR chaplain visited her; and as a result of that conversation, she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior.”
From Rolla, Moss went to Des Arc and Piedmont to visit with Tom Malott and his team. Not only was Des Arc one of the smallest towns that was hit, but Moss also remarked that this area received the worst damage among locations he visited.
According to Mallot, Des Arc is a small community of only 177 people. Yet nearly 80 percent of the population was affected by the storm, requiring a massive cleanup. Unfortunately, many of the homes were beyond repair.
Serving as headquarters for volunteers in that area were Annapolis First Baptist Church and Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont.
To further assist the community, MODR volunteers, led by Eddie Barnhill, set up the Quick Response Unit (QRU) to provide meals for volunteers and storm victims alike. Purchased around a year ago, the QRU is a self-contained kitchen that can carry enough food for up to 500 meals, yet it can be quickly moved with a heavy-duty pickup and set up wherever it is needed. In response, Barnhill, along with Jim Browning, both members of FBC Charleston, served meals in Des Arc for nine days.
“We were fortunate in that volunteers not only came from across the state, but from across the country, including workers from Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio,” Malott related.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the March 14 tornado damage. From Des Arc, Moss moved on to Poplar Bluff and West Plains where Missouri DR teams were joined by volunteers from Texas – specifically volunteers with Texans on Mission and Southern Baptist Texas Convention (SBTC). Both groups also helped with administration with Texans on Mission running the operation in Poplar Bluff/Butler County from Temple Baptist Church, and SBTC running the West Plains/Howell County operation from SBC West Plains. The main idea, according to Moss, was to “establish a presence there and maybe develop some additional cleanup requests.”
Toby Tucker saw an equally impressive response at the operations center hosted by the Canaan Windsor Baptist Church. According to Anthony Dunne, who was helping with operations, “Windsor (located in Imperial, Mo.) is one of three campuses under the umbrella of Canaan. Once it was decided that Windsor would host the operations, the pastors at all three campuses announced the opportunity available to volunteer and assist the community. In addition, they sent out a church-wide email,” Dunne continued. “The Disaster Relief coordinator for Canaan stated that they had 30 volunteers the first week from the three campuses and only eight were MODR trained volunteers. He was pleased and stated this was the best response he has had since being nominated to the position five years ago. He hopes the momentum will carry forward and hopes to see these non-trained volunteers at a future training.”
As a result of all the callouts in the St. Louis area, 276 volunteers worked 2,050 hours, completed 154 jobs and provided 1,125 meals. Three salvations were also reported. In Southeast Missouri, 204 volunteers worked 1,664 hours, completed 21 jobs, and provided 1,167 meals.
Jesus tells us, if we love Him, we are to show His love, through word and deed. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus told the crowd, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.”
If you would like to join God in his work by giving to support the work of Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, please go to modr.org/give or make a check out to MODR and mail to MODR, 400 East High Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101.
