NASHVILLE (WATE) - A group from First Baptist Church Knoxville left Monday morning to help with the flooding cleanup effort in Nashville.
The group of nine volunteers was assigned to help an East Nashville homeowner.
"As a Christian, Christ compels us to serve people in need, but I think also in this instance, we immediately thought to call First Baptist Nashville because they are brothers and sister right down the road," says First Baptist Community Pastor Carol McEntyre.
The home the church members helped gut belonged to Kay Hardison, a single mother with five kids.
"I didn't know I had gotten flooded actually," says Hardison, "There was water up here and in the back."
This is the first time Hardison has received help. She lost everything in the flood.
Kay Herdison had a flood of problems before 14 inches of rain fell on her Nashville home. Her 3 bedroom basement rancher was just enough for a single mom and her 3 kids. She had a leaky roof but was more focused on battling a brain tumor and providing a home for 3 children. She has a full time job at Captain D's as a manager but no health insurance. She earns just enough to make ends meet.
But when the deluge began, she was hit with 3 waves. Her easiest problem was the flood. The flood waters came up from her basement, above through her leaky roof, and behind from her back yard. It was the worst kind of problem with a disaster. Kay was dropped through the cracks of disaster response.
The homeowner's insurance will not pay for flood damage, and FEMA will not pay for rainwater from the roof.
But the faith community is here. First Baptist Nashville arrived this weekend for the first time since the flood 2 weeks ago. They sprayed for mold and connected Volunteers from First Baptist Knoxville to Kay. Today Kay has hope and help. We are pulling carpet, hauling her belongings, and providing a little peace in the after effects of a storm.
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Ashley Riemer began her senior year of high school at a medical center, not in the classroom. While her friends were experiencing the joys of the last year in high school, Ashley was starting chemo for leukemia. But the staff at Walter Reid Medical Center decided to try something creative. And it became a bit of normal in the midst of a storm. Hear more of Ashley's story Sunday at First Baptist Church Knoxville.
By her own admission, Jennifer Mabe says that her Christian life was pretty easy. But when a surgery challenged her faith and obedience, her church family in Winchester, Kentucky, surrounded her family with love. She uses life lessons to explain her perspective on generosity and love for the Church.
Meet Rolando Rosales, Father and New Homeowner. Rolando and his family are the faces of Strategic Missions. Two years ago, the Missions Council recommended that we give directly to projects that transform the lives of people-- both the recipient's and the donors' lives. We would contribute to mission projects that we could be a part of and could see lives changed.
Rolando fit the criteria. When his wife was dying of cancer, she had 1 last wish for her family, that they would have a home. But Rolando was also not a believer. What better way to share the gospel than to serve beside someone who needed Jesus?
This was a project that we could be a part of. We supplied the labor, resources, and willingness to go. We could see the face of some of the deepest poverty in our country as well as participate in the greatest opportunity for sharing the gospel. Our lives could be enriched with hands-on education about border issues, immigration, service, and love in one place. Our lives could be formed by the work of sacrifice. We could bring that information and transformation back home to shape our priorities here.
And that's exactly what happened on the Rio Grande border. Thanks to a partnership with Buckner International, we met the Rosales family. We worked with another congregation, Calvary Baptist in McAllen; and God brought all of this together dramatically for one week in April.
This is not the only strategic mission project that we support, but Rolando is the first fruit of your giving and going. Sharing good news and seeing an impact should be this strategic.
Join us tomorrow night to hear about God's work in the Rio Grande Valley. At 6 pm in the Chapel, we'll hear from our mission team as they share how the Penitas family now has a home thanks to a mother's prayers. We are grateful for Buckner's partnership and the work of this good team.
May is commencement month; and for this group of Seniors, this ceremony is only the beginning. We have dragged them from Croatia to Orange Beach; from YAK to SMAC and every acronym in between. But they have saved some of their best work for the 8-6-5 area code.
Last month, a young 12th grader and her family from Egypt lost their home in a fire. She attends West High School; she and her family are not Christian. But fortunately for them, God is alive and well at West; and we have Christians there. In fact, two of our Seniors attend there. They are the Hill twins. John mentioned the situation in Sunday School and asked for his class to pray for "Nora." This group, though, has been trained by some excellent parents and a fine church to learn how to answer their own prayers. They discussed ways to minister to Nora, and John investigated the situation back at the high school. He didn't know Nora well; but with a little networking at school, and a few connections through a teacher, Nora told John that the family had an apartment to live in. The conditions were pretty dirty, and the carpets needed cleaning.
John reported the information to Michael McEntyre, who naturally said that the church would "handle it." This is the kind of thing that your benevolence funds go toward. But John brought the response back to his Sunday School class. The students decided to donate their money from birthdays, babysitting, grocery bagging, and lawn mowing to the cause; and they raised enough money to pay for the carpets to be cleaned. They contacted David's Carpet Cleaning and contracted for the service.
When John told "Nora," about the gift she was in tears. She and her family were so grateful and had "no idea that Christians would care that much." When the cleaning service arrived and realized the condition of the apartment and the circumstance surrounding the family, David's Carpets did not charge the students for the service. Now the students have money to spend on another project that needs their answers to prayer, and this family has seen just the beginning of Jesus' love for them.
This is the kind of class we salute on May 9. They're not the "best ever." They're just the next great group linked together in the chain of students and parents who make a difference in their corners of the world. They show us truly that wherever we are, we can see First Baptist's work and Christ's presence.
"Cancer killed Martha Rosales two years ago, but on Tuesday her final plea was answered when her husband unlocked the side door and the children ran inside to the three-bedroom abode for which their mother had prayed.
"Buckner International, a global Christian ministry, with the help of volunteers from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., built the $15,000 home for the widowed father, who has struggled since his wife's death to raise the children and do odd jobs to put food on the table.
Read the full story...
We have been contacted by First Baptist Nashville to come and help with flood relief. They are in need of:
1. Teams to remove the interior of damaged homes
2. A team to prepare box lunches for people in the field.
First Nashville has housing available for volunteers at the church. If you are interested in going anytime between May 6-21, we could use you.
This 11-session series on the Gospel of Matthew is perfect for personal or group study. Pre-order copies at shiell@fbcknox.org. Available online at www.helwys.com
My wife, Kelly, and I have two sons, Parker and Drake. We live in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I serve as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Knoxville.
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