Indiana Baptists assist Ike victims in Galveston
GALVESTON?"You're just an angel in disguise."
Bill Crane says he's been called that many times. "And when I hear it, it sends cold chills up and down my spine," he said.
Crane?a retired layman, 68, who serves the disaster relief efforts of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana?led 11 other Southern Baptists from that state to Galveston Dec. 1-12 to help bring hope amid the destruction left by Hurricane Ike last fall.
Indiana Baptists became acutely aware of the needs in Texas when BSCI Executive Director Steve Davis, a former Texas pastor, contacted Jim Richards, SBTC executive director.
"I was very concerned about the devastation," Davis said. "So after talking with Dr. Richards about how much help they still needed, we prepared a flyer that went out to all of our churches, as well as e-mails. And we posted on our website an appeal for volunteers to go and help. Bill Crane responded to that, recruited a group and headed to Texas."
"It's always exciting to watch God's plan unfold when you step out and answer his call to service outside your comfort zone," Crane told the TEXAN. "And on this particular trip I noticed the hand of God at work in disaster relief. Every time we go out, there is always something that happens that is way beyond our ability to effect. We call them 'God moments,'" he said.
When the team left Indiana, Crane wasn't sure who would prepare meals for them.
"But, our heavenly father knew what we needed and one of our team members stepped up to handle those duties. Not only did God bless us with an excellent cook, but he blessed the cook with many opportunities to witness to others," recalled Crane, who said many locals and out-of-state workers were living on the beach.
One of them was a hungry, experienced electrician looking for work, who was so amazed that a dozen people would travel so far to do so much for free that he volunteered to help the team.
That was fine with Crane because the team needed an electrician. And the day the Indianans left for home, the electrician found full-time work at an apartment complex across the street from where the team had worked.
Working with and staying at University Baptist Church in Galveston, Crane's crew installed and finished sheetrock, and also completed some electrical work and plumbing in the home of the church's associate pastor, Bing Sombito, as well as in the homes of two other families not associated with the church.
Crane said that while the team was working on Sombito's house, an elderly woman who lived in nearby temporary housing came over to see what was happening.
"She told us she'd hired a contractor to fix her damaged house, and had given him $34,000 up front," Crane recounted, but he took the money and disappeared.
"We had a real good conversation with her and got to witness to her," Crane said. Wanting to help her at the time, Crane resisted as the repairs were still under contract.
"When I got back home, I couldn't get her plight off my mind," Crane said. "I believe this is a person God wants us to minister to."
So Crane called the woman, and the result is that he's got a green light to assist her when Crane's team returns to Galveston for a six-week stint starting in February. "She's just one of thousands who need help," he said. "God is directing us to her, and we better follow that."
For Crane, working in disaster relief is not only a means, but a means to an end. And that's sharing the love and message of Jesus Christ with others who have both temporal and spiritual needs.
"It's the people that we meet and get to be a part of their life at a time when they have such a need and to bring a ray of hope?that's a rewarding experience," he said.
When working five years ago in response to the floods that devastated northeastern states, Crane's team stopped to talk to a child in New Hampshire standing alone on the sidewalk, waving at the team. "We talked to the boy, and, eventually, his family. Now they're all saved, and the whole family is in church," Crane said. "Some of the team members still maintain contact with that family."
"When I see total depression on someone's face?a homeowner in tears, who sees no light at the end of the tunnel and who doesn't know where to turn or how to get their life back to any semblance of normality?and you come in and say, 'What can we do for you? Here's what needs to be done,' their face lights up. And all I'm doing is using my God-given talents and the time," Crane explained.
