Florida church plant carries on in spite of 2 hurricanes
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (BP)--Sean Bergen expected divine intervention as he looked forward to the launch of a new church start deep in the heart of Florida in the aftermath of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
Hit 3 times by hurricanes, Fla. church keeps plans for ’40 Days’
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| Pressing on Bill Cole, associate pastor for education at First Baptist Church in Sebring, Fla., will launch "40 Days of Purpose" despite damage to the church's educational space by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Only about a dozen of the church's $10,000 shipment of Purpose Driven-Life books were damaged. Photo by Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness |
First Baptist Church in Sebring is no exception.
The doors were open wide to let in the afternoon breeze Oct. 2. A huge dumpster full of soggy carpet steamed in its parking lot, and an upstairs hallway in the education building was still sticky where the carpet, installed just a few months ago, had been pulled back to expose cement flooring.
Fla. official: Baptists play ‘critical’ role in relief response
TALLAHASSEE (BP)—As Hurricane Charley was churning in the Gulf of Mexico in August, Florida Baptist officials were invited for the first time to place a staff member at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee to act as a liaison between the Florida Baptist Convention and the EOC.
SBC relief effort prepares near-record 2.1 million meals
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Since mid-August, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have prepared more than 2.1 million meals in the wake of four hurricanes that have battered Florida and neighboring states along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Seaboard.
Despite losses, Fla. church has ‘taken care of each other’
INDIALANTIC, Fla. (BP)--Holding up a cell phone for students to give one of their own a big group hug, Bill Stanley told 15-year-old Seth Tweeddale Sept. 29 that the nearly two dozen teens assembled at First Baptist Church in Indialantic, Fla., were praying for him and his family.
SBC relief efforts mount in wake of Hurricanes Ivan, Jeanne
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--After preparing nearly 1 million meals over the past two weeks in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, Southern Baptist mobile kitchens will be closing their disaster relief feeding operations Oct. 2 in Alabama’s Gulf Shores region while several mobile kitchens are expected to continue operation in the Florida Panhandle for another week.
President Bush cites role of faith groups in hurricane disaster relief
LAKE WALES (BP)--Thanking Southern Baptists along with other faith-based groups such as the Salvation Army, President George W. Bush visited hurricane-stricken Florida for the fifth time in six weeks Sept. 29-30, eyeing damage to a citrus farm in Lake Wales hit by three of four hurricanes since Aug. 13, before visiting with a Southern Baptist disaster relief worker in Stuart.
“Despite week after week of strain, faith-based groups, like Southern Baptists and the Salvation Army, are setting up kitchens to feed the hungry,” Bush acknowledged in Lake Wales Sept. 29, while also bringing attention to the Red Cross and the National Guard for operating shelters, distributing supplies and keeping the streets safe.
| President Bush |
Bush also mentioned the Southern Baptist Convention’s relief efforts during a Sept. 30 appearance at the Martin County Red Cross headquarters in Stuart, battered by both hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
According to Florida Baptist Convention Disaster Relief leader Fritz Wilson, before his remarks Bush met privately with Leon Hurley, pastor of Lena Vista Baptist Church in Auburndale and leader of Florida Baptists’ Lake Yale feeding unit.
Noting volunteers “like these behind me” -- which included Hurley and an unidentified Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief worker -- “have worked long hours to help those affected by the storms,” according to a transcript released by the White House.
Pensacola faces ‘greatest challenge we have ever faced’
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| Retelling Ivan’s fury Bob Morrison (with hand raised), minister of music at First Baptist Church in Pensacola, recounts how Hurricane Ivan tore off the roof of the sanctuary as John Sullivan (left), the Florida Baptist Convention's executive director-treasurer, listens. Photo by Ken Touchton |
And he was filled with tears.
Whitfield Memorial Baptist Church in Pensacola stood in disrepair, a gaping hole in its roof, victimized by a bully named Ivan. The former pastor’s home, where he once lived while his father led the church, lay in shambles. The small congregation that remains was caught without wind insurance and may not be able to be recover from the building’s extensive damage.
S. Baptists launch 4th disaster relief response to Fla. in 6 weeks
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--About 600 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from 10 states were in various stages of deployment to Florida’s east coast Sept. 27 in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne –- the fourth hurricane to hit the Sunshine State in the past six weeks.
Rural Fla. church sees attendance rise 40 percent after hurricane
FORT OGDEN, Fla. (BP)--It's been more than a month since Category 4 Hurricane Charley ripped through the rural community of Fort Ogden, just after it left Punta Gorda on its path of destruction though central Florida and out to sea at Daytona Beach.
