Baptist disaster relief teams continue to press forward amid cold, ice and snow in numerous states. Meanwhile, a lighthearted challenge issued by a western North Carolina pastor turned into a statewide movement of comedy and connection following this past weekend’s historic winter storm that hit the state.
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Bobby Rogers, lead pastor of Dellwood Baptist Church in Waynesville, said he was looking for a creative way to notify his congregation that services would be canceled on Sunday, Feb. 1, due to snow.
‘In the moment’
“I just wanted to let our church know we weren’t going to have services, and I needed them to help spread the news,” Rogers said. “So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll do something to catch their attention.’ Thus the ‘Snow Angel Challenge’ was birthed, sort of in the moment.”
After announcing the worship service cancelation in a video posted to Dellwood Baptist Church’s Facebook page on Saturday (Jan. 31), Rogers challenged his two associate pastors — Shawn Porter and J.D. Grant — to post videos of themselves making snow angels.
“Pastor Shawn and Pastor J.D., show me your snow angel,” Rogers said before dropping into the snow to make a snow angel by sweeping his arms and legs out and back.
Porter and Grant accepted, and the snow angel challenge was born. Before making his snow angel, Grant, a longtime pastor and an instructor and retired administrator at Fruitland Baptist Bible College, said in his video, “Dellwood, I’m not an angel, but I’ll accept the challenge from Pastor Bobby. I can wallow in the snow.”
Dellwood Baptist Church’s members soon began challenging one another to participate by tagging each other on Facebook. Participation quickly grew, with Rogers estimating that about 100 church members — representing about one-third of the congregation’s average worship attendance — had posted videos by mid-afternoon on Sunday.
Participants ranged from infants to senior adults and included both individuals and entire families, with some adding creative flair. One deacon ripped his shirt off in the frigid temperatures. Another dressed up like Elvis. Another made a snow angel wearing a suit and tie. One family filmed an aerial video to the tune of the Vanilla Ice song “Ice Ice Baby.”
The challenge soon traveled beyond Waynesville, located in the North Carolina mountains, where it started and is accustomed to winter weather.
“It snowballed from there,” Rogers said, pun intended. “From Waynesville to Wilmington.”
The rare and powerful winter storm that swept across North Carolina over the weekend brought snowfall to all 100 counties, producing record or near-record accumulations in parts of the state. The storm disrupted travel, forced cancelation of church services and other events, and left many communities — particularly those in eastern and southeastern North Carolina — blanketed by snow amounts rarely seen in those regions.
Those factors helped fuel the spread of the challenge. See full story.
Ongoing DR efforts
As wintery conditions continue to impact much of the country, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts are well underway, according to an update from Coy Webb, crisis Response Director of Send Relief, compassion ministry of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board.
Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief has seven chainsaw teams working in central Tennessee. The state’s relief ministry also has feeding underway in McNairy County for lineman and the public, providing about 600 meals per day.
North Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief, in addition to providing help in their state, is set up and responding in the Mount Juliet, Tennessee, area with chainsaw teams, a shower unit and mobile kitchen. They are providing 1,000 meals for Dixon, Perry and Hickman Counties.
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief deployed a mobile kitchen and feeding team to Glasgow, Kentucky, to provide feeding in the south central part of the state and four Tennessee counties (Macon, Sumner, Clay and Robertson along the state line). They are providing 1,200 meals per day.
Louisiana teams are responding at two sites — one in Monroe with Missouri teams supporting the site with a shower unit. Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief also has a feeding unit and team providing meals for Red Cross shelters. They are providing 200 meals per day and are deploying chainsaw teams.
Arkansas teams are responding at Delhi, Louisiana, with chainsaw teams working with Southern Baptist of Texas Disaster Relief, which is supporting the site with a shower unit.
Mississippi Baptist Disaster Relief has 18 chainsaw teams deployed to northern Mississippi to Greenwood, Grenada, Boone and Oxford.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chad Austin and originally published by Biblical Recorder. With reporting from The Baptist Paper.
