Thursday, September 01, 2005

1435 Disaster Relief

Monday night our local TV news carried a story about the Southern Baptist Chain Saw team from Central Ohio. They were loading up their vans and getting ready to go south to help out in one important niche--clearing roads and getting trees off homes. We're looking at agencies for disaster relief. I'd sent my tsunami check to the Mennonites but later learned it basically went through Church World Service which is part of the National Council of Churches. That may be adequate for relief but it won't answer any deeper spiritual needs. So I looked at the site for the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. Finally, I settled in at the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Homepage, an agency of its North American Mission Board. Not only did they have the information for their most recent Dennis help posted, but right at the top they had "Sharing Christ." All these agencies cooperate--the Baptists are working with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army at their kitchen sites, for instance. But I'd like to know the volunteers are not going to be shy about spreading the good news while they serve the hot food and clear away trees.

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