The Open Door

Mother’s Day weekend brought surprisingly powerful storms into Georgia in which numerous tornados ripped through houses, churches, and other structures. Within a very short time, Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief teams, under the direction of Stuart Lang, were hard at work helping Georgians to clean up in the aftermath.

Our staff member, Danny Watters, at the early hour of 4:30 Sunday morning, heard the sirens going off at the school behind his home. He ran to the basement with his wife, Becky, just moments before a twister hit their home. He said, “I heard the train. It sounded just like what people always talk about, a freight train. From the basement it sounded like our house was coming apart. It was shaking. We heard a huge ‘thud’ sound and wondered what it was.

“We later discovered that a huge oak tree had gone down in our backyard. We thank the Lord that it fell away from the house. It was a very scary time, but I’ll tell you that our Disaster Relief people were out in our neighborhood on Sunday afternoon helping people all over the place.”

Charles Asbell, associational missionary in the Ebenezer Baptist Association, and his wife Anne are thanking God that they are alive after a tornado tore their home apart. The roof was destroyed and one of the walls was bowed out, the pump house was gone, plumbing was torn up, and the property was left in a mess. The folks in the association and others have come to their aid. Charles expressed gratitude for the generous response of friends.

Paul and Jill Moore, residents of Winston, Georgia, had kind words to say about Georgia Baptists’ quick response. In an email they wrote: “I just wanted to write and let you know how wonderful your disaster relief team that was in my neighborhood yesterday is. I live in Winston, Georgia (in Douglas County) and my house and yard were hit by the tornados on Sunday, May 11th. Carl [Lunsford] and his [cleanup and recovery] team were at my house at 8:30 yesterday morning and stayed until 3:30 pm working to clean my yard of the many large oak trees that had fallen as a result of the tornado. The eight of them worked untiringly and cheerfully. Please keep up the great work and I will be donating to your relief efforts via your website. These unselfish men and women are the true examples of Christ’s servitude and sacrifice. Thanks again and God bless you! Paul and Jill Moore.”

Larry Hightower, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Lyons, and his wife live in the pastorium right next to their church. The church was damaged beyond repair, but the house did not lose a shingle. Larry said, “We are praising the Lord, because in another forty-five minutes we would have been over at the fellowship hall fixing breakfast. We would have been in the kitchen right where the walls and the roof collapsed.” Larry has been blessed by the people in his community who have seen him working at the church and walked up to him, placing money in his hand as an expression of love and concern for the church.

“One fellow put three one- hundred dollar bills in my hand and said, ‘When you get underway with your work on the replacement of your building let me know what you need. I’ll give you some more,’” he said. One Vidalia onion farmer has offered to help the church with the cost of the new facilities.

Larry said, “I was interviewed by the television station and the reporter said, ‘I’m so sorry that your church was destroyed by the tornado.’

“I told him our church is still intact. It was the building that was destroyed; we still have our church. The church is the people. We are going to rebuild and I know that God is going to make us stronger through this storm.”