Sunday, September 9: New Life for Gulfport
More than 4,000 homes were destroyed in Gulfport during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The community was in chaos and despair, but North Carolina Baptist Men Disaster relief teams arrived within hours, providing meals, showers, phones, and prayer to thousands of people. And today, they continue the work.
North Carolina Baptist Men are ahead of schedule on rebuilding their new goal of 700 hurricane-ravaged homes. “We’re struggling,” said Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr, as he describes the city’s devastation. “A lot of our heart got ripped out in many ways but that’s okay. There are plenty of incidences in the Bible where communities got ripped to shreds and they came back, and we’re going to do that too.”
Warr and Chuck Register, his pastor at First Baptist Church which lost its building, credit North Carolina Baptist Men, whose work is funded through gifts to the North Carolina State Missions Offering, with being catalysts for their city’s renewal.
“We would be at square one in many areas of the city had the North Carolina Baptist Men not gotten here,” said Warr. “They’re doing it in the name of God. So you have people that are unchurched, may be atheist or agnostic and it affects them positively to see someone come in and say all we want is to fix your home for free, and if you’ll let us, we’ll say a prayer for you.’ It’s a great witness for Christ.”
Pray for NC Baptist Rebuilding Efforts in Gulfport:
- Families whose homes will be rebuild
- More NC Baptist Men volunteers
- Evangelistic efforts of team members