DR efforts continue in Haiti, elsewhere

Disaster relief efforts continue to provide hope for Haitians affected by the January earthquake that wrecked the country. While construction projects are ongoing this summer as SBTC volunteer teams mobilize, more and more teams are focusing on reaching out in different ways.

In many places, the work of demolition and construction teams has opened doors for new teams to go in and share more deeply the love of Christ through evangelism. Currently, Texans and Southern Baptists from other states are traveling to Haiti with teams whose sole mission is telling people about the eternal life they can have through Christ.

Building and demolitions teams still have plenty to do. The devastation to structures caused by the earthquake still affects daily life for many Haitians. A staggering number of homes and buildings were either destroyed completely or damaged to the point that they are unsafe to go into, DR leaders say. Building and demolition teams have worked diligently to rebuild homes and churches. They continue to rebuild Haitians' lives one shelter at a time.

Other teams are mending lives through relationship building and providing hope by introducing people to the hope found in Jesus Christ alone. Family ministry teams, for example, are focusing heavily on personal evangelism. They also are working with churches to conduct backyard Bible clubs and evangelistic crusades. They have found great receptivity among those affected by the quake, reported SBTC DR Director Jim Richardson.

Other teams are conducting children's ministry through Vacation Bible Schools, children's evangelism and sports camps.

Buckets of Hope

The beginning of June brought with it a great victory for the Buckets of Hope that were gathered to help hungry families affected by the Haiti earthquake. The first buckets made it to their final destination after more than a month of waiting in customs.

On June 2, the Haiti government released the first two containers of buckets. The next day the buckets traveled to distribution sites. The government is involved in every aspect of the distribution and before more containers can be released, workers must report on the current distribution to government officials. If that goes smoothly, 100 more containers, with 1,300 buckets each, can be released to help hungry Haitian families, DR officials reported.

New England

The first team of Texans to assist with the disaster relief efforts related to the flooding in New England returned in early June from their mud-out work in the Boston area. Paul Morrow of Forrest Home Church in Kilgore led this team of 12 Texans and Alaskans as they worked on nine Massachusetts homes. The team pulled up carpets, tore out sheetrock, and disinfected moldy walls and furniture. They also led five people to pray to receive Christ.

Another group of SBTC volunteers were participating in the efforts of cleaning up homes in Rhode Island. As of mid-June, Southern Baptists had worked on 158 homes in Rhode Island alone.

SBC totals for 2010

It has been a busy year so far for SBC Disaster Relief work nationally and internationally, resulting in 1,193 professions of faith related to DR volunteer efforts. In all, teams have presented the gospel 9,038 times. Volunteers have worked a total of 15,760 days. They have prepared 141,850 meals, and worked 101 chainsaw jobs, 896 mud-out jobs, 31 repair jobs, and three roofing jobs.

They have purified 3,449 gallons of water, provided 1,344 showers, cleaned 30,320 loads of laundry and donated 155,000 buckets of hope.

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