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Bringing Jesus to the middle of the mess
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief neared the end of its major 2024 deployments on a mountaintop in North Carolina with mass feeding and chaplaincy efforts in the tiny town of Spruce Pine.
Volunteers were serving survivors of Hurricane Helene, the devastating late September storm that swept through Florida, Georgia, and Appalachia, claiming more than 200 lives and causing billions of dollars of damage.
Helene was the third hurricane—following Francine and Beryl—to which SBTC DR responded in 2024. But the year was about more than just hurricanes.
“Disaster relief strengthens the faith of volunteers and survivors alike,” said Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director. “Volunteers see God’s provision for ministry as they experience Christian fellowship while deployed. They witness a suffering world in which God intervenes with the gospel. Survivors encounter the compassion of Christ through His servants who come to help.”
And help they did in 2024.
“Our volunteers are, as SBTC Executive Director Nathan Lorick said recently, ‘mobilized missionaries,’” Stice said.
Throughout the year, SBTC DR volunteers continued ministry along the Texas-Mexico border, responded to Panhandle wildfires, and assisted survivors of Houston and Southeast Texas storms and flooding, North Texas and Arkansas tornadoes, a Temple tornado, and New Mexico wildfires.
The year provided rich opportunities for ministry. Early March saw teams rush to the Texas Panhandle where five wildfires raged, burning more than a million acres. Volunteers worked in conjunction with churches to serve survivors. Teams prepared more than 1,000 meals using the QRU quick response food truck from Pampa. Chaplains and recovery crews followed. One pastor noted his church had been praying to be a “beacon of light” in their Panhandle community. DR made that a reality, as church members worked alongside SBTC DR teams.
SBTC DR 2024 by the numbers
- Texas deployments 29
- Out-of-state deployments 5
- Total deployments 34
- Volunteer days 5,169
- Volunteer hours 451,200
- Gospel contacts 44,415
- Professions of faith 4,151*
- Recovery jobs completed 244
- Additional recovery jobs addressed 376
- Meals prepared 161,373
- Meals served to public by SBTC DR 63,157
- Showers provided 2,641
- Laundry loads done 2,149
Following early summer wildfires in Ruidoso, N.M., SBTC DR volunteers assisted with mass feeding, dodging flash floods themselves and praying together while witnessing swift-water rescues by first responders in the river just below the DR center of operations at a church.
In July, SBTC DR teams saw nine salvations among survivors of eight tornadoes in Southeast Texas spawned in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. Stice said Beryl was the biggest mass deployment since Hurricane Harvey. Teams assisted for six weeks.
In North Carolina, ministry proved especially fruitful as a new drive-thru model of food distribution was launched which facilitated thousands of personal contacts in Spruce Pine. Volunteers handed out 19,500 hot meals and chaplains prayed with all who were willing.
“We had chaplains visiting with and praying for everyone who drove through or walked up at Spruce Pine, if they wanted us to,” said SBTC DR chaplain Debby Nichols. “We heard hundreds of stories of losses, heartaches, and praises.”
One man asked for prayer for “this whole mess,” Nichols recalled. After she prayed, the man said he had lost his uncle in the flooding when a mudslide destroyed the family’s house. Ten inside the house survived; two did not.
“So, we prayed again,” Nichols said, choking up.
“I had grown, strong men pray and cry with me,” said SBTC DR chaplain Mike Henson. “I had several individuals share with me not only the hurt from the disaster but also the longtime burdens of their lives. I saw how disaster softened hearts. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord Jesus was exalted in Spruce Pine.”
That is the heart of disaster relief: that Jesus is exalted—even in the midst of crisis.
