Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have kept busy during the past week as a relentless wave of storms continues to pound the region with deadly floods and tornadoes from Texas to Ohio.
At least seven people are dead after tornados ripped through parts of the South and Midwest this week (April 2–4), and more life-threatening severe weather is expected through the weekend.
Mal Underwood, a Brentwood Baptist DR volunteer, described the relief effort as a multi-stage process. “Flood relief is about triaging first responses — getting the mud out and helping families return to a degree of normalcy,” he said.
For Jason Gibson, lunch was becoming a problem — a potentially “6,000 calories” a day problem.
Doug Benningfield baptized five individuals who represented four generations of one family.
“When the doctor says you have stage four, he says hope is off the table,” Jay Barbier explained. “But when I get to lean in on Jesus, I have hope in Him.”
Evangelism and discipleship are linked and cannot be separated. We have been called to make disciples, not converts, and we do that one person at a time. Jesus always had time for the individual, and we must follow His example.
Our mission is clear: To serve every member of Tennessee Baptist life by helping churches establish sustainable and impactful discipleship pathways.
The EC and Southern Baptists desperately needed stability. The EC’s credibility was in shambles after six years of making news for all the wrong reasons.
“I’m trying to avoid haphazard or rushed decisions. I’m more interested in methodical, systematic, real progress than I am haphazard or rushed decision-making that really doesn’t pay a benefit we need in the long run.”
