First Baptist Church Gilchrist swept away

GILCHRIST?Arlis and Wanda Russell made a list of the folks who were present for the last service of their home church, knowing it might be the only membership roll they had.

On a Wednesday night, Sept. 10, the Russells were among the several dozen folks who gathered at First Baptist Church of Gilchrist to hear a visiting evangelist preach on dealing with the storms of life during the last evening of a three-day revival.

The Bolivar Peninsula took the brunt of the hurricane’s force three days later, wiping out the community of Gilchrist right where the stretch of land narrows to only a few hundred yards, making it all the more vulnerable. Reporters touring from the air described the scene as apocalyptic and rescuers spoke of the town’s total destruction. According to National Geodetic Survey images, the 1,000 or so structures that stood have been reduced to just five.

“It’s rare to see a town so completely destroyed by a hurricane, to the point where you can’t even see the wreckage,” said meteorologist Jeff Masters.

While the neighboring towns of Crystal Beach and High Island were also mostly destroyed, they were not swept clean of all the structures and wreckage, he said. Masters noted, “Not only did Gilchrist suffer a head-on assault by Ike’s direct storm surge of 14-plus feet, topped by 20-foot-high battering waves, the town also suffered a reverse surge once the hurricane passed.”

Whatever was left after the first waves was likely finished off by the second surge, he said. One way or the other, First Baptist Gilchrist was completely removed from the scene, reducing the likelihood of rebuilding in a town left decimated.

“It’s not just whether the church is going to have a mission, but whether there’s going to be a church,” SBTC Minister/Church Relations Director Mike Smith said.

Pastor L.C. Roots lost his home and the church he served, but stays in contact with folks like the Russells as he moves from one temporary home to the next.

“We’ve gotten in touch with a few folks but it’s been really difficult trying to locate everybody,” Russell told the TEXAN. “The membership records are all gone.”

He and his wife looked over the list they made, believing most evacuated before the storm hit.

Brumbelow kept his pledge to preach a revival every year for the seacoast congregation. With most of those meetings held in September, he was used to competing with tropical storms.

“We were monitoring the storm during the course of the week and until Wednesday evening it appeared to be going south.”

The fact that he delivered the last sermon in the church before the water and wind swept it away remains on Brumbelow’s mind.

“They lost everything they had,” he said. “Every member of that church who lived on the peninsula lost a house.”

Although First Baptist remained a small congregation in a heavily traveled tourist area, Brumbelow said Roots was a faithful witness well beyond the doors of the church building.

“They’re just sweet people and I love and appreciate them. They were never going to be a big church, but they had a tremendous ministry to tourists,” Brumbelow said.

Members from the pastorless First Baptist Church, Crystal Beach, were among those present for the final service.

Russell recalled seeing Crystal Beach resident Dee Ann Sherman at the revival Wednesday night. CNN aired her account of weathering the storm in the attic of her beachfront home.

“I held onto the rafters up in the attic and prayed and prayed and prayed that if God would just save our lives we would get off this peninsula,” Sherman related. “God’s the only thing that saved us,” she added, describing the terror they experienced looking down through a hole in the ceiling and watching the ocean’s force knock the walls out.

The Russells recalled how Brumbelow turned to a different text each night to illustrate that God offers hope in the midst of various storms?addressing failure, unhappiness, depression, brokenness, and finally, fear. From Philippians 3:13-14, he urged those listening to forget those things that are behind and press on.

“We have churches that have to decide whether they even want to rebuild or not,” Smith commented.
“It’s not just a few trees down or simply repair work. This is a matter of reassessing our purpose and mission in being there.”

San Leon Community Church sits right at the edge of the coast where the storm waters rushed into the building. Pastor Bob Gibson led the church to distribute food to residents who remained and began cleaning up the church in order to house displaced residents, aided by First Baptist Church of Hempstead’s mud-out crew.

At Island Community Church, the structure is still standing but water gutted the interior. Pastor Jim Booth anticipates rebuilding, Smith said. Great Hills Baptist of Austin plans to partner in recovery efforts with storm-damaged University Baptist Church in Galveston where Billy Ray Graff pastors.

First Baptist Church of Crystal Beach became the temporary home of an 11-year-old African lioness named Shackle when its owner was unable to get off the island before Ike made landfall.

Smith met with 11 pastors during his trip to the region and expects to have a broader picture of the impact on Southern Baptist congregations following a Sept. 25 emergency meeting of Galveston Baptist Association (gbachurches.org). With church leaders relocating from Katy to Corsicana, Smith continues to reach as many as he can find.

Reviewing the reports of the churches surveyed thus far, Smith said, “The first need is always prayer. It’s draining physically, emotionally and spiritually and the greatest need is to be lifted up in prayer.”
Smith said disaster relief teams deployed quickly after the storm offering hope to those affected.

“They’re already there with the feeding units, chainsaws and shower facilities. It’s such an encouragement to those people to know that they have brothers and sisters in Christ who care enough to come.”

With so many residents displaced, local churches expect difficulty maintaining ministries that require funding. Even the basic needs of paying staff salaries will be strained.

Smith recalled a sign posted at the crossroads upon entering San Leon that declared, “Let’s pull together, neighbors. We can beat this.”

As SBTC churches join in that effort, Smith said he looked forward to helping many more churches anticipate future ministry to the Gulf region.