Texas Baptist Men cook for Christ, victims of Hurricane Ike

By Mickey Noah

North American Mission Board president Geoff Hammond hands out cold bottled water to neighborhood teens near Houston’s First Baptist Church, one of three “mega” feeding sites in the Houston area.  The City of Houston’s water supply was temporarily cut off  when Hurricane Ike hit the nation’s fourth largest city. Photo by Jim Whitmer.

Joyce Roach, a volunteer from the Texas Association and member of First Baptist Church, Rockport, Texas, opens gallon cans of peaches and other fruit as dessert for the evening meal prepared for delivery by The American Red Cross to victims of Hurricane Ike in southeastern Texas. Photo by Jim Whitmer.

Phil Davenport, Garland, Texas, and a member of Garland’s First Baptist Church, uses a boat paddle to stir a giant tilt-skillet of chicken, peas and carrots – the first dinner meal cooked by Texas Baptist Men at League City, Texas. Photo by Jim Whitmer.

Bruce Irving (left), George West, Texas, and a member of the First Baptist Church there, and Wayne Gillman, Aransas Pass, Texas, open gallon cans of fruit at the “mega” feeding site in League City, Texas.  Photo by Jim Whitmer.

HOUSTON, TEXAS (BP) -- The mouth-watering aroma of chopped chicken breast – blended with peas, carrots and to be served over rice – drifted through the parking lot of the public sports park in League City, Texas, southeast of Houston.   Those Southern Baptists were cooking again.

This time, it was scores of Texas Baptist Men – some with their wives – who were enduring the hot afternoon Texas sun to prepare free meals for Houston-area victims of Hurricane Ike, which ripped through Galveston and up to Houston last Saturday morning.

As “blue cap” Marc Traweek and his team cooked 25-lb. boxes of rice, Phil Davenport, First Baptist Church of Garland, Texas, and John Cox, First Baptist Church, Whitesburg, were two of 16 men stirring giant “tilt-skillets” of chicken with aluminum boat paddles. 

Once done, the chicken and rice would be scooped up with tea pitchers and poured into red plastic “cambros,” which The Red Cross would deliver to neighborhoods in their ERVs (Emergency Response Vehicles). The process – only with different menus -- is repeated over and over with every meal.

In response to Ike, League City is one of three “mega” feeding centers in southeast Texas, where Baptists are cooking lunch and supper until Ike’s victims get back on their feet. With feeding units from the Top of Texas Association from Plains, the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ (BGCT) state unit from Dallas and the South Texas Association from Skidmore, the League City site is gearing up to provide 60,000 meals a day. 

“You want to know the nature of a dog, you put a cat in front of it. You want to know the nature of Christians, you put hurting people in front of them,” said Randel Everett, state executive director of the BGCT. “When we see people hurting, we want to help.”

As Everett spoke, another pallet of food was being moved by a tow-motor from one of the dozen tractor-trailer rigs to the cooking tents. The trucks contain tons of food – mashed potatoes, large cans of fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges, 3,200-lb. pallets of rice, salty snacks and cookies. But not all the food has even arrived yet.

“We’re just getting geared up,” said Leo Smith of Dallas, long-time director of the Texas Baptist Men. We’re going to prepare 60,000 meals a day here at League City alone. Other smaller feeding units have been feeding evacuees in Marshall, Beaumont, San Antonio and Orange, Texas since last week. Some 750 Texas Baptist Men are volunteering across Texas.

Smith said 50 volunteers started the disaster relief cooking at League City, but that number will grow to 75 before the site is closed down. “We’re here until they say they don’t need us anymore,” Smith said. 

While touring the League City feeding kitchens, North American Mission Board president Geoff Hammond said, “One of the great things we at NAMB can be proud of is our role as the gate-opener for our partners in the field. On behalf of the state partners, we maintain relationships with the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and FEMA so we can better coordinate our joint efforts.

“Since arriving here in Houston, the Lord has also impressed on me the sacrifice our disaster relief partners make,” Hammond said. “Many of them leave families, jobs and responsibilities back home. They drive for days just to get to the disaster site. They work long hours. It’s sacrificial work, all in the spirit of Christ. These folks have to have strong backs and good feet, and don’t mind roughing it. Then at the end of a long day, they go to a local Baptist Church and sleep on cots. Only the love of Christ can explain why they do it.”

And Hammond said as “great as the SBC’s Cooperative Program is, we’re just not about giving money to the Cooperative Program.   It’s doing missions together in a cooperative manner. We have assets out there. The state conventions, local associations and the churches cooperate wonderfully in time of crisis. It doesn’t matter where they’re from because Hurricane victims don’t care which state convention or association they represent. They are united in sharing the love of Christ.”

Since Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) volunteers began their response to Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana over Labor Day Weekend and including the response to Ike, more than 11,500 ministry contacts have been made leading to at least 96 professions of faith in Christ. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders at NAMB report that the cumulative totals of the Ike and Hurricane Gustav response together have topped 9.300 volunteer days served, 1.1 million meals served, 578 chainsaw jobs, 17,671 showers and 2,861 laundry loads.

To donate to SBDR ministry efforts, call toll-free 866-407-6262 or visit www.namb.net. A downloadable Disaster Relief update video for viewing in church services is also available at www.namb.net.

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