The Monday on Aug. 29, 2005 is marked in history for the homes leveled to their foundations — also for the lives lost and for the unimaginable scars left behind. But for First Baptist Church Biloxi, Mississippi, the days following the disaster stand as an immovable testament to God’s faithfulness.
Smokey Gibson, now senior pastor of FBC Biloxi — and student pastor at the time of Hurricane Katrina — said of the weekend leading up to the impact, “I remember Sunday morning realizing this was going to be a big storm and we pleaded with our church family to consider evacuating.” But many who had ridden out storms before chose to stay, he recalled. “My family and I traveled to Meridian to ride the storm out and wait to see the impact. In the days after, we were in shock to see how bad it really was,” he said.
Chip Stevens, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Jackson, was senior pastor of First Baptist Church Biloxi when the hurricane hit. He noted that “when you live on the coast, you’re used to hurricane scares.” But, he added, “Looking back, a lot of people ask, ‘Why didn’t more people leave?’ Well, we were used to false alarms. It is laborious to board up your house, so you get wary of it. With Katrina, we didn’t realize how destructive it would be.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lindsey Williams and originally published by Mississippi’s The Baptist Record.
