A DECADE OF FIRSTS FOR SBC DISASTER RELIEF

First Allotted Funds – Southern Baptist Disaster Relief traces its beginnings to the actions of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1966, at which time $50,000 was authorized for the Home Mission Board (Now NAMB) to use in relief efforts.

First Mass Feeding After a Disaster – In 1967, Hurricane Beulah ravaged the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico. Robert (Bob) E. Dixon had just moved from the First Baptist Church of Memphis, Tenn., to work with Royal Ambassadors and Texas Baptist Men. Following the devastation of Hurricane Beulah, Dixon used camp craft skills and turned 10-gallon cans into miniature stoves called “buddy burners,” which were used to prepare hot food for people affected by the disaster as well as the volunteer workers. Texas Baptist Men again provided hot meals and the love of God to disaster victims in response to a tornado that cut a deadly swath through Lubbock and to Hurricane Celia’s devastation of Corpus Christi.

First Mobile Unit – The 1971 Mary Hill Davis Texas State Mission Offering allotted $25,000 for a Disaster Relief mobile feeding unit for Texas Baptist Men. With these funds, Dr. John LaNoue and other volunteers purchased and converted a used 18-wheeler into the first mobile feeding unit. The mobile feeding unit made its maiden voyage in 1972 when a flash flood struck the Seguin/New Braunfels area of central Texas. The unit prepared and served more than 2,500 hot meals to the disaster victims and Disaster Relief workers.

First International Disaster – In 1973, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers responded to an earthquake affecting Managua, Nicaragua, where volunteers constructed buildings to house seven congregations. In 1974, the 18-wheel mobile feeding unit and volunteers responded to Hurricane Fifi in Honduras.

A MOVEMENT & FORMALIZATION OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST DISASTER RELIEF

By 1976 four more state Baptist conventions (Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kansas/Nebraska) had established Disaster Relief mobile units and joined Texas in this new area of ministry. By 1988 nine more state Baptist conventions had joined the Disaster Relief ministry: Tennessee (1979), Alabama (1981), Illinois, Arkansas, North Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, and Ohio.

CALIFORNIA JOINS THE RANKS

California Disaster Relief (CSBDR) finds its origins rooted in a 1983 Coalinga earthquake. Edd L. Brown was the Men’s Ministry Leader for the CSBC shortly after the Federal Disaster Center was closed and the Red Cross processed 200 work orders for families in the aftermath of the earthquake. 

In those days, “over seventy percent of the contacts made with victims of the quake were made by volunteers from Southern Baptist Churches in California,” where Edd Brown and then pastor of Coalinga Baptist Church, Frank Reuter, served as coordinators of this burgeoning ministry. Workers from Fresno, Los Angeles, San Jose, and the Bay Area joined with the staff from Mid-Valley Southern Baptist Association to provide personnel for the Family Services section of the Red Cross for three weeks.  

“Volunteers furnished travel trailers, manned food service lines, repaired broken appliances, made home calls, and counseled with individuals.” Those who could not come “responded with money to help victims and to assist First Southern.” 

It would be the famed Northridge earthquake, under the leadership of Don Hargis, in 1994, when this faithful crew would be officially formalized, and Disaster Relief, as we know it, would not only be mobilized but would be volunteering in service of Californians alongside other state DR teams.

(In May of 2023, the executive board of the California Southern Baptist Convention elected Kendrick Neal as the newest Director of California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief).

Following Hurricane Andrew (August 1992), there was a three-day debrief of the Southern Baptist response. A result of this meeting was the beginning of the development of the Disaster Relief Operational Procedures Manual (DROP) to formalize training and establish operational protocols. In 1994, the state Baptist Convention Disaster Relief directors officially adopted the DROP Manual during their annual Disaster Relief meeting. This manual continues to be the foundation of protocols and training and is currently in its third edition. This also began the tradition of an annual DR Roundtable meeting that takes place during the last week of April.

While the Brotherhood Commission in Memphis, Tennessee, had initially been responsible for the Disaster Relief ministry, in 1997, during the annual Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meeting in Dallas, Texas, messengers adopted the Covenant for the New Century.  The SBC was reorganized, and three national agencies—the Brotherhood Commission, the Radio and Television Commission, and the Home Mission Board—were consolidated into one new national agency called the North American Mission Board (NAMB).  One of the nine ministry assignments given to NAMB was “to assist churches in the United States and Canada in relief ministries to victims of disaster.” Disaster Relief, along with other ministries of the Brotherhood Commission, moved to the North American Mission Board located in Alpharetta, GA.

THE D.R. STRUCTURE AS WE KNOW IT TODAY

As the ministry has grown, the leadership structure has also evolved.  In the beginning, a small group of volunteers with a limited ministry capacity was available. A team leader (known as the blue cap) and a few individuals would move into a community and provide hot meals, listening ears, and loving hearts. They would often enlist the members of local congregations in the serving lines. This strategy provided a link between the Disaster Relief ministry and the local congregation. Once the Disaster Relief units left the affected community, the local church and its members could continue to provide ongoing ministry to the community. With the signing of the American Red Cross Statement of Understanding in 1986, a more formal leadership team was needed.

The development of the white cap position was approved by the state Brotherhood directors during the 1994 annual meeting. In addition to the national and state director, provision was made to deploy a white cap to give overall coordination to an area affected by disaster.

The institution of the incident command system (ICS) of management is a result of the continued growth of the Disaster Relief ministry. Proper stewardship of resources and good partnership principles led to using a central command system to handle the number of volunteers, state conventions, and types of ministries involved in a large response.

During the September 11, 2001, response to the terrorist attacks in New York City, western Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., 23 state Baptist conventions were involved, with more than 4,000 volunteers ministering during this very critical time in our nation’s history. The need to use the ICS model was realized, and steps were taken to implement the system. It was fully utilized during the next two major responses. In 2002, the Hurricane Lili response in Louisiana involved as many as 30 different Disaster Relief units from 15 state conventions. In 2003, the Hurricane Isabel response in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware involved 168 units and teams from 24 state Baptist conventions utilizing approximately 2,245 volunteers, which is the largest deployment of units to date in the history of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

The growth of the Disaster Relief ministry is also reflected by the Statements of Understanding (SOU) that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has signed with partner organizations.  The first SOU between Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the American Red Cross was signed in 1986 when the former Brotherhood Commission was responsible for disaster response.  In 1995, an SOU was signed between the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board to set up a process for Southern Baptists to respond to international disasters.  September 11, 2001, marked another historical event for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.  In response to the terrorist attacks, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army worked hand-in-hand to staff the kitchens at Ground Zero and Staten Island.  The result of this cooperative operation was an SOU signed in 2002.  In 2003, Mercy Medical Airlift approached Southern Baptist Disaster Relief about the possibility of establishing an SOU to provide transportation for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief personnel and small cargo if the air transportation system was grounded by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration—as happened on September 11, 2001. This agreement was signed in 2004.  As of this writing, an official agreement with the Department of Homeland Security is being drafted and will be finalized in the near future.

End-of-year reporting indicates that:

• 6,798 professions of faith,
• 4,530 Bibles were distributed,
• 324,889 meals were prepared,
• 29,843 Gospel presentations were made,
• and an impressive 470,412 volunteer hours were served,

…all through Disaster Relief ministries in 2023 alone.

Since 1967, when a handful of Texans answered God’s call, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has grown into one of the three largest Disaster Relief agencies in the United States (along with the American Red Cross and Salvation Army). Trained volunteers stand ready to offer help, hope, and healing when disaster strikes anywhere in the world.  As Lloyd Jackson of Virginia states, “Disaster Relief provides a unique opportunity to translate the message and person of Jesus Christ into flesh and blood as His followers respond in love and compassion to hurting people regardless of circumstances, social status, financial situation, language, political persuasion, theological stance, education or race. ‘As you do unto these, you do unto me’ remains the guideline for ministry to people in and through Disaster Relief.”

*Although SBDR works alongside federal agencies like FEMA, it does not accept any federal funding or reimbursement. Funding comes directly from churches, mostly by funding that is passed through state conventions and the SBC’s Cooperative Program (CP). To financially support Disaster Relief, visit the CSBC website.

**To learn more about becoming a trained Disaster Relief volunteer, or to learn how your church can support DR ministry, visit the Disaster Relief page on our CSBC website (https://csbc.com/disaster-relief/).

Much of this article was provided by Gaylon Moss, Missouri State Disaster Relief Director and Chairman of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Steering Committee.