ROWLETT—Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers completed damage assessment, debris removal and chainsaw work in Ellis and Collin counties, but they continued ministry in Rowlett and Garland, helping residents affected by tornadoes that hit the day after Christmas.

By Jan. 13, trained TBM volunteers had logged 1,026 days of service. Working from the incident command center they established at First Baptist Church in Rowlett, TBM personnel also coordinated the work of other volunteers who gave 223 days to the ongoing work in eastern Dallas County.

Volunteers from South Garland Baptist Church in Garland served with Texas Baptist Men in Rowlett. (Facebook Photo)One volunteer group—31 members of South Garland Baptist Church in Garland—spent a chilly Saturday morning helping a Japanese widow in Rowlett with no insurance and limited English skills. The tornado damaged about half of the roof on her house, leaving contents in the affected rooms rain-soaked and wind-scattered.

Communicating primarily through an interpreter TBM supplied, the volunteers from South Garland moved her furniture into a temporary storage unit provided by a senior adult organization in Rowlett.

After discarding damaged goods, they boxed smaller household items and personal possessions, moving them into two rooms unaffected by the storm so restoration work could begin in the water-damaged part of her house.

TBM chainsaw crews completed 133 jobs, removing broken limbs and fallen trees, and crews with tarps completed nearly two-dozen temporary roofing jobs for homeowners.

Heavy-equipment operators donated nearly 100 hours, assisting with demolition and large-debris removal.

To contribute to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

To contribute to long-term recovery efforts, mail checks to Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery, 7557 Rambler Rd., Suite 1100, Dallas 75231-2310 or click here. 

Heart of Texas Baptist Camp and Conference Center will sponsor a church safety seminar Feb. 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the center’s Hammons Auditorium. Jimmy Meeks, who has served more than 34 years as a police officer and 41 years as a minister, will speak. Cost for the seminar is $15 per person, payable the day of the event. A meal is available in the camp’s dining hall after the event for an additional $7. Advance registration is requested. For more information or to register, click here.

East Texas Baptist University conferred degrees on 82 graduates at its Dec. 19 commencement—64 baccalaureate degrees and 18 master’s degrees. Molly Woodruff from Colorado Springs, Colo., who graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in mathematical sciences, received the President’s Award. The university grants the honor to a graduating senior judged by the faculty to be the best all-around student, including scholastic ability and development, the degree of involvement in activities that reflect the ideals of the institution, character, integrity and general attitude.

Hardin-Simmons University’s summer enrichment program for high school juniors and seniors and incoming college freshmen interested in the health sciences will accept applications through Feb. 29. The program, June 19 to July 1, is designed to help students strengthen their science and mathematics skills and to explore healthcare career options. For more information, click here.

Anniversaries

Chris Skoglund, five years as pastor of students at First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi.

BELTON—The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, in partnership with the Bell County Museum, brought a traveling exhibit about the Holocaust to Central Texas.

This poster promoted the International Hygiene Exhibition in 1911. The eugenics movement pre-dated Nazi Germany. A 1911 exhibition at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden included a display on human heredity and ideas to improve it. (Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin)“Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race,” a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, will be on display in the West Gallery of the Bell County Museum at 201 North Main Street in Belton through May 21.

Timothy Crawford, dean of the College of Christian Studies at UMHB, worked with the Bell County Museum to bring the exhibit to Belton.

“I knew that they do these traveling exhibits,” Crawford said. “And I looked at the schedule and started making inquiries.”

When he noticed no exhibits scheduled anywhere in Texas, Crawford asked about bringing one to Belton.

“The one hitch was that it required 2,000 square feet dedicated to permanent display,” Crawford said. “And we just didn’t have a space like that on campus.”

Crawford approached officials at the Bell County Museum about serving as host site for the exhibit.

“They were really excited,” Crawford said. “It’s a great opportunity for our whole community to get to experience it.”

Crawford, who is teaching a course called “Anti-Semitism, Christianity and the Holocaust” this semester, believes there is much to learn from the study of the Holocaust.

“One of the things that people ask is: Why did the Holocaust happen? Why the Jews?” Crawford said. “The reality is that it didn’t begin with the Nazis. In fact, there were centuries of anti-Jewish teachings leading up to that point, much of it propagated by the church.”

The focus of the “Deadly Medicine” exhibit is especially powerful, organizers noted.

“‘Deadly Medicine’ explores the Holocaust’s roots in then-contemporary scientific and pseudo-scientific thought,” exhibition curator Susan Bachrach said. “At the same time, it touches on complex ethical issues we face today, such as how societies acquire and use scientific knowledge and how they balance the rights of the individual with the needs of the larger community.”

“The very folks who should have been the first to put the brakes on this kind of nonsense, not just doctors but theologians of the time, instead got into gear to make it happen,” Crawford said.

The exhibition—jointly sponsored by the College of Christian Studies at UMHB and the Bell County Museum—is made possible through the support of the David Berg Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Temporary Exhibitions Fund and the Dorot Foundation.

DALLAS—Afrika Community Church in Dallas brings hope and empowerment to sexually abused women in eastern Congo through its Dorcas Project.

The vocational program for vulnerable women—known as Dorika in Congolese—trains them to sew and knit, provides English literacy classes, teaches simple business principles and introduces them to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Healing from trauma

Seth Simisi Seth Simisi, pastor of Afrika Community Church, discovered the need for the project when he visited his homeland in the Democratic Republic of Congo more than three years ago to participate in leadership training events made possible through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Intercultural Strategic Partners initiative.

“In Goma, we were invited to do a seminar on healing from trauma,” said Simisi, who also is founding president of Africa Outreach and Relief Ministries, a not-for-profit organization related to his church.

He met women who had been victims of sexual violence perpetrated during armed conflict. Military forces used rape as a weapon to terrorize and demoralize, he explained. As a result, young women were traumatized by their assaults and often ostracized when they bore the children of their attackers.

Support from Texas Baptist Hunger Offering

Simisi presented a proposal for a vocational training and micro-enterprise program to Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission and received financial support for the Dorcas Project from the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

“We wanted to bring single mothers together and train them how to sew, help them acquire job skills on sewing machines and share the gospel with them,” he said.

Women enrolled in the Dorcas Project in Goma, Congo, learn how to sew and knit, gain English literacy and business skills, and are introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Photo / Coutesy of Seth Simisi)Simisi envisioned a six- to seven-month residential program in Goma. At graduation, each woman who completed the program would receive a sewing machine and material so she could set up her own business to support her family.

Once the women successfully established their sewing businesses, the Dorcas Project would encourage them to pay back the program a little each month, so another student could receive the same benefits, he explained.

First group to graduate this spring

Currently, 46 women are enrolled in the Dorcas Project. They anticipate final examinations in March, when instructors evaluate their handiwork and other skills. After graduation in April, another group of women will begin the program.

“We want to continue to expand the program, but we don’t know how,” Simisi acknowledged. Members of Afrika Community Church contribute financially, but resources are limited in a congregation composed of refugees from Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Limited resources

“When refugees come to settle in the Dallas area, the lucky ones find a job right away. Others may move on after seven or eight months when they find work somewhere else,” Simisi said.

Those who find employment typically work in warehouses, supermarkets or discount centers. Some have found jobs at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Others work as custodians in hospitals.

“They don’t make much at all,” Simisi said.

The church—one of seven congregations that meets at Gaston Christian Center in northeast Dallas—also fluctuates in size as members move on to higher-paying employment elsewhere, he noted.

“It’s always challenging, but we’ve come to accept it and to say to them, ‘Go with our blessing,’” Simisi said.

Committed to making a difference

Even though the congregation faces challenges financially, members want to make a difference in lives locally and globally, he said. For instance, during the holiday season, the congregation worked in partnership with GracePoint Church, a Texas Baptist congregation in Coppell, to distribute food baskets and gift cards to refugee families in northeast Dallas.

“We were telling them: ‘We love you. We are here to assist you,’” Simisi said. He noted the church has established meaningful relationships with several Muslim families in the area that he hopes will make them more open to the gospel.

Afrika Community Church has an ongoing relationship with Christ Apostolic Church of Winterton in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, South Africa. Last summer, in conjunction with the Baptist World Congress and with support from Gaston Oaks Baptist Church and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Simisi joined a team of volunteers who taught South African Christians biblical leadership principles and discipleship.

‘Lives have been changed’

But Simisi and members of his congregation are most encouraged by the impact the Dorcas Project already has made in Congo.

One woman whose family was involved in witchcraft became a Christian, he noted, and others who come from Muslim backgrounds have taken bold steps to choose Jesus over family ties.

“Lives have been changed,” he said. “These women were hopeless. Through this project, women have come to Christ.”

ROWLETT—Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery ministry mobilized 450 volunteers in two weekends to Rowlett and Garland after tornadoes ripped through North Texas Dec. 26.

Volunteers moved bricks, mangled furniture and tree limbs from the disaster zones to the street curbs, working a combined total of 1,100 hours.

Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery ministry mobilized 450 volunteers—including college students from First Baptist Church in Plano—in two weekends to Rowlett and Garland after tornadoes ripped through North Texas Dec. 26. (Photo / Leah Reynolds)In Rowlett, the city government asked the Baptist General Convention of Texas Disaster Recovery ministry to organize a volunteer reception center at First Baptist Church. Although the BGCT program traditionally steps in during the long-term recovery phase, leaving immediate disaster relief to trained Texas Baptist Men volunteers, the office accepted the city’s request for aid.

“We were approached by the city and Texas Baptist Men with a request to help manage the center, and we were happy to step in and assist in the immediate aftermath,” said David Scott, Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery director. “People wanted to help, but there was no system in place to manage the volunteers. So, we brought our team in to help the city coordinate the efforts.”

Volunteers poured into First Baptist Church in Rowlett for a safety orientation and to receive job assignments.

College students from First Baptist Church in Plano assisted Cornelius Rodgers, a resident whose family was home the evening the tornadoes struck. Overcome with gratitude for the assistance, Rodgers recalled events from Dec. 26.

“We prayed and prayed and prayed,” he said, explaining he had blanketed himself over his wife and children in the bathtub just seconds before the twister struck their house. Fierce winds and a loud roar surrounded the room as they prayed. When the piercing noise finally stopped, Rodgers looked up to survey the damage.

“I was in shock,” he said. “In a thousand years, I never thought there would be a tornado in Rowlett. You just never think it will happen to you.”

The tornado ripped away a wall, exposing his children’s bedroom. It tore off much of the roof, shattered his company vehicle’s windshield and overturned a backyard play set.

“Our home is a total loss. It has to be demolished,” Rodgers said.

But before it could be demolished, much of the debris needed to be moved to the curb, a daunting task for one family. That is when volunteers from First Baptist in Plano assisted.

“It’s a blessing,” Rodgers said. “I have never seen anything like this. Many churches have been out here helping the community. It’s a blessing that people will take the time out of their day to help someone in need.”

Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery will continue evaluating needs for all of the communities affected by the winter tornadoes to determine how to mobilize volunteers to assist with long-term recovery efforts.  

Representatives of the North Dallas Bank of Texas delivered a $2,500 gift to assist with recovery efforts, such as purchasing building materials.

To contribute to long-term recovery efforts, mail checks to Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery, 7557 Rambler Rd., Suite 1100, Dallas 75231-2310 or click here.

To learn more about Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery and discover opportunities to serve, click here.

Wayland Baptist University and Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary each received $600,000 grants from the Lilly Endowment’s high school youth theology institutes.

The grant to Wayland will help fund Kaleo, a program designed to foster Christian leadership among high school juniors and seniors. The grant to Truett Seminary will establish Running the Race Well, a youth spirituality and sports institute.

The Lilly Endowment created its high school youth theology institutes initiative to encourage teenagers to explore their religious beliefs and their concerns about contemporary challenges by studying theology and examining how faith calls them to lives of service. Wayland and Truett are among 82 schools nationally participating in the initiative.

Clinton Lowin, associate dean of Wayland’s School of Religion and Philosophy, designed the Kaleo program with the goal to transform the lives of high school students through discovery, discernment and affirmation of God’s call for Christian leadership.

“This grant is one of the most exciting things that has happened to the School of Religion and Philosophy in our history,” Dean Paul Sadler said. “It has tremendous potential to influence the lives of Christian young people, and it also gives churches and Wayland an opportunity to form very productive partnerships.”

Responding to God’s call

Lowin had been in discussion with leaders at the Baptist General Convention of Texas and other organizations who expressed a growing interest in trying to find a way to help more students consider God’s call on their lives, preparing them for service to the church and in their communities.

High school juniors and seniors will enter into a yearlong mentorship program with a senior pastor or youth pastor. Students also will participate in a one-month immersion that focuses on three phases of development—a wilderness camping experience at Glorieta, N.M.; classroom instruction in biblical and theological studies on the Wayland campus and ministry projects through area churches; and a two-week overseas mission trip in partnership with Student International.

After they complete the immersion experience, students will return to their churches and mentors for another eight months of study and learning, when they will be instructed and held accountable by Kaleo for implementing some sort of Christian ministry within their church or community. 

‘Running the Race Well’

Truett Seminary’s Running the Race Well program will provide an annual experience within a diverse community, using an eight-day, mentor-guided setting that helps teenagers become discerning, vibrant leaders in sports, church and beyond. It is designed to inspire the faith of serious-minded youth to be leaders spiritually and morally within the sports culture. Students preparing for their junior and senior years of high school will be eligible to apply, and the first sessions will be offered during summer 2018.

At a retreat, participants will study and interact with Running the Race Well faculty, share meals, meet with their mentors, discuss moral and social issues specific to sports and life, learn leadership skills, practice spiritual disciplines, serve with Mission Waco and join in other immersion experiences and competitive sports-virtue labs. 

Running the Race Well partners include the BGCT and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, along with Duke University Divinity School, Queen’s University, Regent’s Park College, Oxford University, Seattle University, University of Gloucestershire, the National Christian College Athletic Association and the Vatican’s Office of Church and Sport, as well as Waco churches and various sports ministries and coaches.

“We want to help youth, parents, families, mentors, coaches and churches to bridge the gap between Christian belief and behavior in the sphere of sports—to impact the X’s and O’s of sports with a compelling vision coupled with application for why we do sports as Christians,” said John B. White, faculty director of Running the Race Well and Truett’s sports ministry and chaplaincy program.

Truett Semnary Dean Todd Still called the initiative “a fresh, innovative way to engage and to shape young people.”

“If I were still a spiritually curious, athletically oriented youth, I would be thrilled to be a part of such an opportunity,” Still said.

ROWLETT—With chainsaws, blue tarps and skid-steer loaders, Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers continued to help North Texas residents affected by killer tornadoes that swept through the region the day after Christmas.

Scott McCaleb, a Texas Baptist Men volunteer from Town East Baptist Church in Mesquite, helps clear a broken limb that extended across the backyards of three Rowlett homes. (Photo / Ken Camp) The first 10 days following the Dec. 26 storms, TBM chainsaw crews completed 100 jobs at the request of homeowners in eastern Dallas County, as well as four in Ellis County.

TBM volunteers also installed temporary roofing for eight homes, provided facilities for 49 showers and 43 loads of laundry, and distributed more than 6,600 boxes for residents to collect storm-scattered possessions. They also gave away 44 Bibles and a dozen gospel tracts.

A Texas Baptist Men chainsaw crew from Denton Baptist Association work in a Rowlett neighborhood. (Photo / Ken Camp)Terry Henderson, state disaster relief director for TBM, expects demand to increase in Rowlett and Garland for at least the immediate future.

Initially, requests for assistance arrived fairly slowly because residents had not yet returned to their homes or were waiting for insurance companies to assess damage, he noted.

Rick Simmons, a Texas Baptist Men chainsaw volunteer from Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving, climbs a tree in a Rowlett homeowner’s backyard to remove dangerous limbs. (Photo / Ken Camp)“Now, some of them are finding out insurance is not covering everything,” he said.

TBM was scheduled to demolish two homes, and Henderson anticipated additional demolition projects. TBM heavy-equipment operators demolished 50 homes after a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West, and Rowlett’s mayor requested the same service in his community.

At one site, TBM skid-steer operators removed a pickup that landed on a home in Garland. Ironically, the truck may have saved the lives of the couple and their grandson who were in the house when the tornado hit. When the vehicle landed, it bridged two couches in the living room. The family hit the floor as their house crumbled around them, and the space under the truck provided them shelter from falling debris.

Tim Wint, a Texas Baptist Men volunteer from The Village Church in Flower Mound, uses a pole saw to remove a broken limb from a backyard in Rowlett. (Photo / Ken Camp)At this point, some Rowlett and Garland neighborhoods remain in need of relief, while others already are gearing up for a long period of recovery and rebuilding.

“There are a lot of people back in their homes now, but there are still some areas that haven’t been touched yet,” Henderson said.

Joe Marney, a Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteer from First Baptist Church in Justin, serves in Rowlett with a chainsaw crew. (Photo / Ken Camp)As a result, both TBM disaster relief and Texas Baptists’ disaster recovery, a Baptist General Convention of Texas ministry, are working in the area.

In response to requests from congregations that desire immediate hands-on involvement, TBM posted contact information for Dallas-area church groups who wanted to help clear debris.

After those slots filled quickly, TBM shifted to identifying areas where church teams could serve and providing that information to Texas Baptists’ disaster recovery personnel.

To contribute to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

To contribute to long-term recovery efforts, mail checks to Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery, 7557 Rambler Rd., Suite 1100, Dallas 75231-2310 or click here. 

Some Texas Baptist congregations rang in the new year by posting signs prohibiting openly carried handguns inside their church buildings—or updating signs already banning concealed handguns.

Effective Jan. 1, Texans with firearms licenses are allowed to carry holstered handguns openly in most public places, except court buildings, jails, polling places, schools, bars and secure areas of airports.

Churches have right to choose

Churches—along with hospitals, nursing homes and amusement parks—can ban guns, but only if they provide proper notice to licensed gun owners.

Signs prohibiting openly carried handguns in church buildings must post language stipulated in Texas Penal Code Section 30.07. (Photo / Ken Camp)Each congregation has the right to determine if it wants to allow both openly carried and concealed handguns, concealed but not openly carried handguns, openly carried but not concealed handguns, or no handguns, regardless whether they are concealed or openly carried, said John Litzler, legal consultant with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“We’ve noticed that Baptist churches vary all across the spectrum in the options they are choosing,” Litzler said.

Required to follow guidelines in penal code

Churches that want to allow licensed gun owners to carry their handguns openly or concealed do not need to take any action. But if congregations want to prohibit some or all handguns in church buildings, they need to follow guidelines stipulated in Texas Penal Code Sections 30.06 and 30.07.

If a church wants to bar handguns—either concealed, openly carried or both—in its facility, one option is to distribute a document such as a card, worship guide or church bulletin giving notice to every person who enters the building.

Another option is for congregations to post signs at each entrance to the church’s property. Depending on a church’s location, that could be a sign posted at each driveway entrance from the street, not necessarily at every door to the church facility, Litzler said.

However, he noted, churches only can bar handguns inside their buildings, even though a “common-sense definition” of church property would include parking lots and other areas owned by a congregation.

“Under the penal code, however, premises means a building or portion of a building and does not include a public or private driveway, a sidewalk or walkway, or a parking area,” Litzler said. “It is important for churches to know that while they may place signs in these areas as notice that no guns will be allowed inside the building, the signs do not prohibit open or concealed carry in areas of church property that aren’t considered the church premises.”

Specific language stipulated

The penal code also provides specific instruction regarding any signs a church posts barring handguns.

“If the church chooses to notify license holders by posting a sign, the sign must be in both English and in Spanish, appear in contrasting colors with block letters at least one inch in height, and be displayed in a conspicuous manner clearly visible to the public,” Litzler wrote in an article posted on the BGCT website.

However a church provides notice, the law stipulates specific language for the written communication.

To prohibit openly carried handguns, the notice must say: “Pursuant to Section 30.07, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with an openly carried handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a handgun that is carried openly.”

To ban concealed handguns, the notice must say: “Pursuant to Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with a concealed handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a concealed handgun.”

The wording reflects new language approved by the Texas Legislature, and signs posted before Jan. 1 may contain outdated language, Litzler noted.

While Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery program continues to assess damage and establish long-term recovery plans to aid people affected by the Dec. 26 tornadoes that devastated parts of North Texas, immediate relief opportunities are available for churches and individuals.

Texas Baptist Men volunteers from Collin Baptist Association help residents in a Garland neighborhood clear debris. (Photo / Ken Camp)Click here for frequently updated information about needs in Rowlett and here  for the latest volunteer opportunities in Garland.

In Ellis County, volunteers and supplies are needed to help meet needs within the Red Oak school district. Click here for more information.

Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery will update volunteer opportunities on the Baptist General Convention of Texas website, on Facebook  and Twitter.

To receive updates on additional volunteer opportunities as Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery program works on long-term recovery, click here. 

Funds will be needed throughout the recovery process. To donate to Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery ministry, click here.

Texas Baptist Men volunteers continue to provide immediate disaster relief. To contribute to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

GARLAND—Texas Baptists responded rapidly when multiple tornadoes swept through North Texas the day after Christmas, claiming 11 lives and damaging or destroying more than 1,400 homes in Ellis, Dallas, Rockwall and Collin counties.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers from Collin Baptist Association clear debris from a neighborhood in southeast Garland. (Photo / Ken Camp)A single tornado produced a continuous path of destruction 13 miles long from Garland through eastern Rowlett. Texas Baptist Men set up a disaster relief incident command post at First Baptist Church in Rowlett, and the church collected diapers, plastic tubs, gift cards and other items for their affected neighbors. At least 600 homes in Rowlett sustained serious damage or were destroyed.

By Jan. 3, TBM had 17 units working in the area, with about 80 trained volunteers serving in a variety of capacities.

Texas Baptist Men chainsaw operators from Collin Baptist Association use a polesaw to remove damaged limbs from the tree of a southeast Garland resident. (Photo / Ken Camp)Texas Baptist Men chainsaw crews from Collin Baptist Association and Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall began work in Garland and Rowlett, serving in cooperation with fire department personnel to clear felled trees and remove limbs. In the first two days, the TBM crews completed 15 chainsaw jobs. Later, a chainsaw crew from Denton Baptist Association joined the effort.

Volunteers from multiple churches in Collin County focused first on a neighborhood south of Interstate 30 in southeastern Garland, where an E4 tornado packed wind speeds greater than 165 miles per hour.

Additional TBM volunteers and Ellis Baptist Association and Denton Baptist Association distributed cardboard boxes to residents to help them gather scattered possessions.

Another team covered damaged roofs with blue tarps, while other volunteers operated two skid-steers to move heavy debris. TBM also provided an all-terrain-vehicle to assessment teams, after the mayor of Rowlett requested a street-by-street canvassing of affected areas.

TBM set up the Hill Country Baptist Association Living Hope Baptist Church in Garland, and the shower and laundry unit from Ellis Baptist Association also was called into duty.

A crew from Pineywoods Baptist Camp set up two portable light towers.

Terry Henderson, TBM state disaster relief director, met Dec. 29 with the Garland emergency response task force to discuss setting up a volunteer reception center where potential workers could receive short-term assignments as the city identified needs.

Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church—which already was serving a local donation and distribution site—and South Garland Baptist Church both were considered as possible locations. However, the cities of Garland and Rowlett decided instead to establish a joint disaster management resource center at the Granger Recreation Center at 1310 W. Ave. F in Garland. In addition to serving as a volunteer reception center, it also operates as a multi-agency resource center and donation site.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers L.S. Palmer and Wendell Romans from Collin Baptist Association check their list of requests from homeowners for assistance. (Photo / Ken Camp)David Scott, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas disaster recovery program, worked closely with Henderson to coordinate plans for long-term response, including recovery and rebuilding projects.

To contribute to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

To contribute to long-term recovery efforts, mail checks to Texas Baptists’ Disaster Recovery, 7557 Rambler Rd., Suite 1100, Dallas 75231-2310 or click here. 

This article orginally was posted Dec. 29 and updated Dec. 30 and again Jan. 4.

DALLAS—A Korean Texas Baptist minister delivered two tons of noodles, 10 solar panels, two diesel generators and other supplies to a hospital in North Korea between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Yoo Yoon delivers winter socks to schools for orphans in North Korea. (Photo courtesy of Yoo Yoon)Yoo Yoon, director of the Korean-American Sharing Movement of Dallas, also took 350 pairs of winter socks, two freezers, six pairs of tractor tires and three sewing machines to three schools for orphans in Kwangwon province.

Yoon has traveled to North Korea more than two-dozen times in the last 20 years, including four trips in 2015. He typically delivers corn and wheat noodles to schools, orphanages and hospitals. Donors have included Texas Baptist Men and several Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches, and Baylor Scott & White Health has contributed medical equipment.

In September, the North Korean government denied Yoon permission to distribute food to orphans, due to a change in policy. However, he provided food for the hospital on his most recent trip, and he brought other supplies to the medical center and the schools for orphans.

“I have learned to adjust myself to whatever circumstances through 20 years of North Korea missions,” said Yoon, former Korean field consultant with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Yoo Yoon (right) delivers batteries and bulbs for scopes to the opthalmology department of a North Korean hospital. (Photo courtesy of Yoo Yoon)In September 2014, his daughter, Sara Yoon, an ophthalmologist, examined patients and consulted with doctors at the hospital in Wonsan City. On the most recent trip to North Korea, her father delivered batteries and bulbs for scopes and other equipment she purchased for the hospital’s ophthalmology department. He also distributed Christmas presents at the hospital.

“The Lord led me to tell them what Christmas is,” Yoon recalled. “So, I handed out 62 Christmas gifts to 62 people, letting them know it is a season of accepting a gift, since God sent his Son to forgive our sins.”

RICHARDSON—More than 1,100 children from about 300 low-income families received new toys and shoes at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson.

Steven Scott, a member of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, helped provide a couple with gifts for their children. (Photo by David Alvey)“It’s our great joy to partner with our community to celebrate the Christmas season by sharing Christ’s love,” said Richard Covington, community minister at The Heights Baptist Church.

The families participated in the church’s 10th annual Three Trees celebration.

Richard Covington (center), community minister at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, joins Pam Plummer (left) and Ashlee Cobb in leading the Three Trees team. (Photo by David Alvey)“The event gets its name from a children’s story that traces the significance of three trees in the life of Jesus, where one tree is fashioned into a manger, the second tree into a fishing boat and the third tree becomes the cross,” Covington explained. “The story reminds us that while things may not seem to be going our way, God has a plan for each of us. If we place our trust in him, he will give us better gifts than we ever dreamed.”

Most of the participating families have children who attend Bukhair Elementary School in Richardson, where many members of The Heights Baptist Church volunteer.

“Through events like their Fall Festival, Math & Science Night, Field Day, and weekly mentoring sessions, our members have developed meaningful relationships with these kids and their families,” Covington said.

Hundreds of volunteers from the church entertained the children and helped them decorate about 1,700 sugar cookies, while their parents secretly shopped for their Christmas presents.

Church members donated thousands of toys, games and gift cards worth more than $75,000. Each family selected a gift for each of their children. They also received a gift card for new shoes for each child, and a grocery gift card to buy Christmas dinner.

The church asked guests to donate a food item for the Network Community Ministries of Richardson, and the congregation collected more than 700 pounds of food.

Pastor Gary Singleton had challenged the church by asking, “If The Heights were to disappear from the corner of Renner Road and Central Expressway, would our community know we were gone?” Covington noted.

“After seeing all the love our church poured into these families, I can unequivocally answer, ‘Yes,’” he said.