Ronica Shannon
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
— James 2:15-17 New International Version
This verse is what it is all about, according to Keith Stinson, who serves on the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s leadership team for disaster relief.
“Putting our faith and our love for others in action is the whole purpose of the disaster relief team,” he said.
The group, made up of mostly members of the Tates Creek Baptist Association, along with other convention volunteers from Alabama and many local Baptist churches, came together and completed 204 jobs that included sawing and gathering limbs from the Jan. 27 ice storm.
About 35 people came from the Alabama Baptist Convention and headquartered themselves at the First Baptist Church on the Eastern Bypass.
The church, with the help of church members and other volunteers, were able to feed and house all disaster relief workers, as well as serve as a shelter for those left without power during the storm.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention report concludes that 141 jobs were completed, and the Alabama team completed 63 jobs, but there were probably more, according to First Baptist member and disaster relief volunteer Albert Spencer.
“There’s more now than we documented, but that’s what we come up with,” he said.
Spencer estimated that each job was about $1,000 each, but was provided for free.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is the third largest relief organization in the nation behind the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army, Stinson said.
“We’re all volunteers,” he said. “There are only two paid people per state.”
When a church in the association needs help in a time of crisis, the state Baptist convention is contacted, and the word is spread throughout local member churches, Stinson said.
“This ice storm hit about seven states, so a lot of the other states were dealing with their own situation,” he said. “The folks we were going to get from Indiana, they ended up going to Western Kentucky, which, from what I understand, was even worse than what we had.”
The Madison County volunteer efforts did more than just help community members with storm debris, according to First Baptist member Sam Newman, who serves as the church’s administrator of education and discipleship.
“It’s great for our church family to come together,” he said. “It was beautiful to watch.”
Newman resided in New York during the 9/11 attacks and knows how relieving volunteer help can be.
“A disaster relief team came there and gave meals and that really impressed me,” he said. “It was my first real taste of being a recipient of disaster relief. It’s a real blessing to be able to partner and do some hands-on things.”
Meals were definitely a big part of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s efforts.
“I only heard one complaint the whole time, and that was about breakfast,” Stinson said.
A man reported that after eating breakfast one morning, he was not able to bend over until 11 a.m., he said
“There were some people from Alabama who said that we had spoiled them forever,” said Bill Fort, pastor of First Baptist Church. “Typically when they go places, they get peanut butter and jelly.”
According to daily logs kept during the disaster relief period, the church, along with help from other churches affiliated with the Tates Creek Association and donating individuals, served more than 900 meals during the disaster relief and sheltering efforts that lasted just more than two weeks.
“The main thing of all of this was that it was an opportunity to share Christ’s love and share the love of Jesus,” Stinson said.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 6698.
