TBM, Mexico prepare for disaster

Posted: 8/04/06

TBM, Mexico prepare for disaster

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

JUAREZ, Mexico—The waters in the Gulf of Mexico may have been calm so far this hurricane season, but Texas Baptist Men and Mexican Baptists are preparing for the next natural disaster.

During the recent annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico, a team of TBM volunteers trained more than 100 Mexican Baptist leaders from throughout the nation in how to set up and execute a widespread disaster relief ministry.

The Texans showed the Mexican Baptists how to minister to people affected by a natural disaster through cooking meals, cleaning out homes and purifying water.

Ed Alvarado, TBM ethnic consultant, said disaster relief ministry could be extremely effective in Mexico because hurricanes hit the country on both coasts, causing a large amount of destruction.

“They’re more susceptible to hurricanes, and probably 60 percent of their land is coastland, so it’s a very viable thing to have,” he said.

Francisco Lopez, first vice president of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico, agreed with Alvarado. Mexican Baptists need an organized way to quickly minister to victims of natural disasters.

“It is very important for us to provide training for people who live close to the sea,” he said.

TBM already has provided some disaster relief equipment to Mexican Baptists, but no large network of disaster relief units yet exists.

Dexton Shores hopes that changes. Shores, director of Baptist General Convention of Texas Border/Mexico Missions, arranged the training event between TBM and the Mexican Baptists.

Alvarado agreed, saying TBM hopes to do three or four more trainings in Mexico within the next two years.

“The idea was instead of waiting for disasters and then responding like we did last year, we went ahead and trained individuals,” Shores said.