ETBU students serve in Sabine Pass

Posted: 12/01/06

ETBU students serve in Sabine Pass

By Mike Midkiff

East Texas Baptist University

MARSHALL—Two student groups from East Texas Baptist University responded to a request by Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief to help meet ongoing needs in Southeast Texas one year after Hurricane Rita.

“I received a phone call from a TBM representative asking if ETBU students would help with a tremendous need to gut houses and hang sheetrock,” said Allan Thompson, director of the university’s Great Commission Center.

“After the phone call, I went walking on campus and ran into the student president of Pi Sigma fraternity. He asked me unsolicited about doing a mission project. Later, I announced in a chapel service the need in Sabine Pass, and the baseball team responded as well.”

Sixty volunteers left the ETBU campus the weekend before Thanksgiving to help residents of Sabine Pass.

Earlier, during the ETBU fall break, another student group went to Metairie, La., to help Celebration Church in its efforts to bounce back after Hurricane Katrina.

In Sabine Pass, student missionaries gutted the inside of a house, hung sheetrock in a home being rebuilt after a tornado destroyed it, tore down a rotted porch in order for a new one to be built, shingled a roof, put beams in place for a new roof, built a foundation for a ramp and deck, and hung siding on a house.

“The most refreshing part of the trip for me was hearing this phrase over and over again: ‘What more can we do? We want to do more,’” said ETBU admissions counselor and Pi Sigma sponsor Joey Sutton. “This trip was definitely not a comfortable trip, but I think being able to serve someone firsthand as opposed to just giving money to a charity was rewarding for all those who went.” 

Tiger Baseball Coach Sam Blackmon said his team took part in the mission trip for two reasons. The trip allowed the players to be involved in community service, and it put them in a situation to appreciate the things they have.

“I was impressed with the generosity and warmth of the people we went to help,” Blackmon said. “The attitude they displayed after suffering through what they went through was amazing to see. Some are still living in FEMA trailers. And yet they still have the hope and courage to move forward.”

The hopeful spirit displayed by a local resident impressed Ren Watkins.

“At lunch one day, an elderly man named Marshall sat down with me,” said Watkins, a religion major from Houston. “He shared with me that the hurricane had taken everything he had. Marshall showed me what it looks like when you trust in God when you have nothing on this earth but him.”