California Baptist Disaster Relief chaplains have been deployed as wildfires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area, where the death toll has risen to more than 20 people and over 12,000 structures have reportedly been destroyed or damaged. This week, the number of deaths and amount of destruction is expected to rise as heavy winds may only intensify.
The current conditions will make it more difficult for volunteers seeking to help with clean-up efforts, said Coy Webb, crisis response director for Send Relief, a ministry of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board.
“FEMA has declared all the fire sites hazardous. This means that they will need to complete phase one before any organization will be allowed into the area to begin clean-up. This cannot begin until fires are out,” he noted.
Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers may not be allowed to begin for 4–6 weeks after fires end. “Teams are ready but just waiting for clearance to enter area once fires are completely contained and phase one is completed,” Webb said. “California and Arizona SBDR have teams ready with a host of other states ready to offer further support if needed.”
Meanwhile, he noted, “chaplains are deployed and serving.” Their work will include serving at victim resource centers in Los Angeles.
“They are also building 1,000 ‘Crisis Buckets’ for fire survivors to distribute,” he said. “Send Relief has sent initial funds to assist in the response and has fire clean up supplies ready for shipment to California for SBDR teams.”
Ways to help
The “best way” for people to help survivors, he added, is through prayer and or through donating to relief efforts. For more information on how you can help, check with your church, association or state Baptist convention to find out how they are contributing to this and other ongoing relief efforts in neighboring states, your state and beyond. People can also learn more about wildfire relief efforts in the Los Angeles area from California Baptist Disaster Relief or Send Relief.
Los Angeles-based church media expert Phil Cooke, a faith-based filmmaker, media consultant, and founder of Cooke Media Group, challenges Christians to “get specific” as they pray for the crisis in Los Angeles.
“There’s been an enormous outpouring of social media memes to ‘Pray for LA,’ and that’s a good thing. Despite the criticism from secular people, I believe prayer changes things — and often changes the person praying.
Avoid ‘generic’ prayers
Cooke added, “But as you pray for the victims of the fires in Los Angeles, I would suggest that rather than a generic ‘pray for LA,’ you get specific. The Bible encourages us to be specific in our prayers. In Matthew 20, Jesus asked, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Philippians 4 says, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’”
Cooke listed the following ways to pray:
– Elderly people who have lost everything and have to start over.
– Disabled people who have limited options for escaping the fire and restarting their lives.
– Those who are alienated or live alone from their families through divorce, brokenness, or death and have no one in their family to call on for help.
– Those living in poverty with no financial resources.
– Those who have lost their home insurance.
– Those struggling with the emotional devastation that comes with losing everything.
For more related headlines, see links below:
Southern Baptists mobilizing for wildfire relief, financial, prayer support needed -Baptist Press
Evacuation orders for Los Angeles County residents while California officials come under scrutiny – The World and Everything in It
A Word from DR Director, Kendrick Neal, regarding the L.A. Fires -California Southern Baptist Convention
Christian organizations CityServe, World Help partner with LA churches for wildfire relief efforts -Christian Post
Something to Consider When Responding to the Fires in Los Angeles – Phil Cooke
California fires have destroyed at least a dozen houses of worship -Religion News Service
24 dead as fire crews try to corral Los Angeles blazes before winds return this week -Associated Press
NOTE: The links above are a sampling of headlines related to story and are not an endorsement of all viewpoints or reporting.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was compiled by The Baptist Paper.
