9343.jpg)
- Convention retiree Bob Cook dies after extended illness
- Pastors reminded to honor calling at annual conference
- Conference breakout sessions focus on pastors family, Christian life, leadership & transition
- Love: What the world needs now
- Florida Baptists celebrate evangelism, church planting & church strengthening priorities
- Hughes urges pastors: Go for the ‘big ask’ of members, themselves
- State Board of Missions hears report from past presidents on GCR
- FBSC messengers applaud pastors who have served 60-plus years
- Messengers in Pensacola approve nominees for Florida’s SBOM & agencies
- Florida Focus
- Latest Stories...
RSS News Feed
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor
 |
| Click on image for related coverage |
UPDATED: 12:30 p.m. Sep. 1
TALLAHASSEE (FBW)-With an estimated 2 million having fled Louisiana while Hurricane Gustav continued its head-on collision course near New Orleans, Florida Baptists stood ready with warm beds and meals for those displaced by the storm.
Blue Springs Baptist Conference Center in Marianna was being readied Sunday afternoon, Aug. 31, with assistance from the local American Red Cross and the Jackson County Emergency Operations Center to shelter up to 180 people.
Fritz Wilson, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief and Recovery Department, told Florida Baptist Witness local volunteers are being recruited to help with meals at Blue Springs.
Near Panama City at the Bay County Fairgrounds, Disaster Relief volunteers from the Northwest Baptist Association are preparing meals at a "pet-friendly" shelter where there are about 40-50 people staying, Wilson reported in a Sept. 1 e-mail update. "The shelter is a blessing," he said.
Anticipating a "mass stream of evacuees" along in the I-10 corridor in Florida's Panhandle, Wilson told the Witness he also sent an e-mail to the state's directors of missions to make them aware of the opportunity to house evacuees and with recommendations for record keeping.
"This is a wonderful ministry opportunity," Wilson said in the e-mail. "If God is opening a door to serve do not miss the opportunity even if you are not reimbursed. Be the 'cup of cold water in Jesus' name.'"
A shelter opened at 4 p.m. CST at East Brent Baptist Church in Pensacola in response to tropical storm strength winds from Gustav expected in the region through the night and morning. Escambia and Santa Rosa county authorities issued a local state of emergency Aug. 31 because of local weather conditions and Santa Rosa officials have issued a voluntary evacuation of campers, mobile homes and Navarre Beach.
Florida Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers in regions 1 and 2, an area stretching from Pensacola to I-75 in Lake City, were put on alert to be prepared to serve meals locally if needed. Dan Chandler, the state feeding coordinator for Florida Baptist Disaster Relief is in charge of the operation, Wilson said.
Wilson said Eddie Blackmon, the Convention’s director of men’s mission and ministries department, will accompany him to the State of Florida Emergency Operation Center in Tallahassee Mon., Sept. 1 in order to “help me better identify needs so we can contact associations and churches to respond.”
Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist Aug. 31 declared a State of Emergency in Florida, calling for a proactive response in providing assistance to neighboring Gulf Coast states. Florida is opening shelters in Escambia, Walton and Santa Rosa counties. The Executive Order and Emergency Declaration cover Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, Washington, Franklin, Gadsden, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla counties; and for any host county sheltering evacuees.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is developing plans in cooperation with the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, and state Baptist conventions in Hurricane Gustav’s projected path. SBDR has been requested to provide a feeding capacity of more than 600,000 meals per day as the Gulf Coast braces for the arrival of a possible Category 4 Gustav.
According to an Aug. 31 e-mail update, all Southern Baptist feeding units are on alert, with the exception of the Illinois and Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention feeding units, on standby to support the Republican National Convention, feeding units are asked to be prepared for a possible response to the Gulf Coast. All units are expected to deploy with Disaster Relief chaplains as members of their volunteer teams.
State conventions expected to be affected are planning to staff liaison positions at the American Red Cross and Salvation Army operational headquarters in their states. Liaisons are also deployed to command centers in Washington, D.C. to coordinate with the American Red Cross and FEMA. Incident Command Team members have been recruited and are expected to deploy to staging areas in Louisiana and Mississippi over the next two days.
Plans are in place to stage feeding units and other units from a number of states in northern Mississippi and Alabama by noon Monday. Tuesday these units will be moved into the affected area. Some states located close to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas will be asked to be prepared to deploy from their home as soon as conditions are favorable.
"As soon as it is safe to travel, the SBC armada will descend on Louisiana and Texas to serve meals, cut trees, provide showers and do what ever is needed to help," Fritz said in an e-mail update Sept. 1.
Southern Baptists are also tracking Tropical Storm Hanna. Wilson said he and other state convention disaster relief coordinators are continuing to monitor Hanna’s track and developing contingency plans for a possible landfall in the southeastern United States from northern Florida to the Carolinas later in the week.