SBTC coordinating Southern Baptist relief teams in Lebanon

Amid homes, buildings and roads in Southern Lebanon bombed out by the recent war between Israel and Lebanon-based terrorists, God is at work.

That’s the message Larry Shine brought back from his trip with a Southern Baptists of Texas Convention contingent that visited there in late September. It’s a message Jim Richardson, SBTC disaster relief director, is hoping will spur churches to participate in relief work there, as Southern Baptists attempt to offer help and hope.

Through its mission partnership with Lebanese Baptists, the SBTC is recruiting and coordinating Southern Baptist relief teams for work in Southern Lebanon, which suffered the greatest damage to infrastructure.

Teams of six to eight people will mostly install water tanks in homes and buildings. It’s a simple task but not a typical mission trip, Richardson said.

“It’s work,” he said of the 8-to-5 regimen of physical labor. “You work to have the opportunity to develop a witnessing relationship.”

Richardson said the damage level varies from slight to devastating and has affected innocents and terrorists, Christians and Muslims and others.

Because of their recent work, “We were able to build relationships with believers. We were also able to build witnessing relationships with people who are not believers,” he said.

Richardson said the water tank effort is much needed because concussion from bombing raids damaged so many of the tanks.

Teams from California and South Carolina are scheduled to go for 10-day deployments in November and December, respectively. Another SBTC team is working there now and will return later this month, Richardson said.

Despite religious differences with Muslims, they seemed eager to receive the help, he said.

“I found the people to be very, very open. I found no one causing any problems because we weren’t talking politics. I found people taken aback that Christians from the United States would care enough to bother to help Muslims,” Richardson said. “And that’s what motivates our teams is to share the love of Jesus Christ with other people.”

Shine, pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Onalaska, documented his experience in a journal entry (read it online at sbtexas.com).

“I failed to find the hordes of terrorists in Lebanon that the media had warned us about,” he wrote. “What I found was people; hurting, confused and who needed what everyone needs in times of crisis: hope?. When we went from house to house making minor repairs to shattered windows, doors, roofs or water storage tanks, they all asked the same question: ‘Why are you doing this?’ The answer was always the same: ‘Because we are followers of the teachings of Jesus and he told us to love our neighbors. You are our neighbor and you need help. We are here to help you because we love you.’ The answer always brought the same response, a bigger smile, a more vigorous handshake and more grapes and coffee.”

Another pastor, Jim Howard of West Side Baptist Church in Atlanta, Texas, wrote: “This trip has been the highlight of my entire walk with Christ. As I look back and reflect on the trip, my heart is filled with joy and great expectation of what God is going to do in Southern Lebanon. I am also very thankful for our [Southern Baptist] state and national leaders that are sensitive to the heart of God; open to hear his voice and ready to join him in reaching a lost world.”

The trip costs around $2,400 per person, which include airfare, food and lodging. Richardson said churches may contribute toward volunteers’ expenses if they wish. For more information on Lebanon relief work, contact Richardson at jrichardson@sbtexas.com or call him toll free at 877-953-7282.