More News on Katrina Relief

The Long Beach church building in Mississippi

BREAKING NEWS

Church members begin to assess losses from Katrina

By Erik TryggestadThe Christian Chronicle
September 01, 2005
Long Beach, Miss., church's facility severely damaged by hurricane

Roger Mills was preaching for a church in Homestead, Fla., when Hurricane Andrew made landfall on Aug. 24, 1992. The storm ripped apart the church’s meeting place before it moved into the Gulf of Mexico, eventually striking Louisiana.Nearly 13 years later Mills watched as another hurricane, Katrina, followed a similar path, dumping water on southern Florida before it slammed into the Gulf coast, threatening the church in Biloxi, Miss., where he currently ministers.The church building on Rodenburg Road may have escaped the fate suffered by many structures in Katrina’s path, Mills said Wednesday afternoon from a hotel room in Birmingham, Ala. A church member who was able to get a call through to Mills reported that only the roof appeared to be damaged.Not so for the church of Christ in nearby Long Beach. Lee Hodges, whose brother, Mark, is the congregation's minister, said that the Long Beach building was severely damaged by the storm. "While the building was not flattened (as earlier reports said), it is likely beyond use," Hodges told the Chronicle Thursday afternoon.Mills said that many of his church’s 85 or so members evacuated before Katrina roared ashore Monday morning. He and other church members were trying to account for them — especially those living in Biloxi’s nursing homes.Dwight Lawson, a member of the Clearview Church of Christ in Texas, said that he planned to load up a truck with supplies and volunteers and head into the affected area this weekend. If they can’t make it all the way to Biloxi, they’ll do what they can where they are, he said.As church members begin the rebuilding process, Mills hopes that the Rodenburg church, if intact, can serve as a staging area for relief efforts in southern Mississippi.Watching disaster strike — in 1992 and 2005 — it seemed like "everything's falling apart," Mills said. But as he and other church members plan to respond to Katrina, "everything's falling into place."Churches across the nation are loading trucks with supplies and preparing to head into the flooded regions in Katrina’s wake:• Workers with White’s Ferry Road Relief Ministries, West Monroe, La., plan to survey the affected areas by airplane this weekend and meet with churches to establish relief centers.• Rapha International, a relief ministry supported by churches of Christ, is shipping medical supplies and equipment to southern Louisiana, Executive Director Ray Hughes said. “U.S. aid is not our normal mission, but we have received too many requests from people around the country to ignore,” Hughes said. “We just can not refuse such a huge challenge and opportunity to serve.”• Relief agencies and church members plan to meet Friday at the South Baton Rouge, La., church to coordinate relief efforts. The church has transformed its Christian Student Center into a hurricane relief center, housing 50 refugees from the storm in its gym, according to the church’s Web site, www.sbrcc.org.• Members of the Centralia, Ill., church plan to use a large, white truck with the words “Fill Me Up” painted on the side to receive relief supplies. Volunteers will drive the truck to the University Church of Christ in Shreveport, La. Church members there will assist in distributing the supplies to affected areas. Centralia member Bill Amason is encouraging other churches to do the same.“Even small congregations can help,” Amason said. “If they don't have enough supplies to fill a truck, then a van will do. The main thing is that we plan to have a centralized staging center that can specifically serve the need of the refugee centers.”• The Memorial Road Church of Christ, Oklahoma City, is working with WFR Relief, collecting funds and relief supplies that volunteers will deliver Sept. 8, said Community Outreach Minister Micah Hobbs. Church member Drew Barnett planned to leave Oklahoma City at 4 a.m. Thursday to deliver relief supplies to friends and family members in Gulfport, Miss.As churches and ministries begin relief efforts, church members from around the globe are offering prayers and words of encouragement.“We are stunned at the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Mississippi and other places in the United States,” said Abraham Cojo Monney, a minister in the West African country of Ghana. “All we can do is to go to our knees and pray to our father in heaven that he sheds his mercies again for the people.”