Stories tagged with: tornadoes

• Amid ongoing COVID-19 response, Southern Baptists help disaster survivors

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Tuesday, April 28, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Kyle Sadler

  HOUSTON (BP) -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) leaders and volunteers continue meeting needs and sharing the hope of the Gospel in response both to the ongoing pandemic and to natural disasters in their communities. The challenges presented by COVID-19 have necessitated adjustments, but SBDR has sought to ensure a continued presence and continued service.

  "I've been really encouraged to see Southern Baptists step up, encouraged but not surprised," said Sam Porter, national director of SBDR through the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and Send Relief. "When needs arise, Southern Baptists don't shy away from reaching out no matter what challenges are in their way." Read More

• Before COVID-19, members might have been at church when tornado hit

  by Diana Chandler, posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo submitted by pastor Tony Johnson

  MOSS, Miss. (BP) -- Before the COVID-19 pandemic, worshipers convened at First Baptist Church in rural Moss, Miss., every Sunday at about the time a tornado destroyed the church this Easter.

  "The destruction is unreal. It looks like a bomb went off," pastor Tony Johnson said Tuesday (April 14). "If it hadn't been for COVID-19, there's a possibility that we could have had some church members here that night." Read More

• Southern Baptists respond to outbreak of Easter tornadoes

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Tuesday, April 14, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Pam Creamer

  SENECA, S.C. (BP) -- Southern Baptists across the South have been providing disaster relief after one of the broadest storm systems in recent years created tornadoes and severe thunderstorms from Texas to the Carolinas, along with strong winds all the way up the East Coast.

  Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) teams in each of the affected states have begun assessing needs and deploying chainsaw and debris removal teams to clear downed trees. Read More

• Tornadoes during COVID-19: 'Help your neighbor and stay out of the way'

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, April 13, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  COLLINS, Miss. (BP) -- Already heavy-laden with the turmoil of a global COVID-19 pandemic, residents in several Southern states suffered the added burden of a string of tornadoes Easter Sunday that killed at least 27 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and left more than a million in the dark.

  "Most everybody's still in shock," said Tommy Broom, director of missions for the Covington-Jefferson Davis Baptist Association in Collins, Miss., which comprises about 30 churches spread across several communities damaged by strong tornadoes. "It's kind of unreal." Read More

• God uses dog's barking to save pastor, family

  by Lonnie Wilkey, posted Thursday, March 05, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  B&R photo

  COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- For the first time in his life, Darrin Crockett is glad God did not answer his prayer.

  On Monday night, March 2, Crockett and his family went to bed as always. Their dog Doc, however, barked incessantly throughout the night. Crockett remembers asking God "to make that dog quit barking." Read More

• Disaster relief groups respond to Tennessee tornadoes

  by Diana Chandler , posted Wednesday, March 04, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo from Facebook

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- "Zombie land" is how a survivor described the landscape after tornadoes killed at least 24 and devastated communities in middle Tennessee, disaster relief strategist Wes Jones told Baptist Press Wednesday (March 4).

  It's "just bewilderment," Jones, who handles disaster relief for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB), told BP as he surveyed damage in Putnam County, where 18 were killed and 20 were still missing after tornadoes struck early Tuesday morning. Read More

• Pastors remain faithful as Tennessee tornadoes kill at least 22

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, March 03, 2020 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo from Facebook

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Pastors shared hope and faith in the midst of death and destruction early Tuesday (March 3) just after a series of tornadoes tore through middle Tennessee, killing at least 22 and heavily damaging businesses, homes and at least two Southern Baptist churches.

  An elderly couple who were longtime members of First Baptist Church of Mount Juliet in Wilson County are among the dead, their pastor Phillip Dunn told Baptist Press hours after the storm passed, heavily damaging the church campus. Read More

• Record tornado outbreak draws So. Baptist response

  by Tobin Perry, posted Thursday, May 30, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo submitted by Kentucky SBDR

  BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (BP) -- Southern Baptists in Ohio and Kentucky are on the ground and serving Ohio residents impacted by devastating tornadoes. According to the National Weather Service, a record 17 tornadoes hit Ohio on the evening of Monday (May 27).

  Authorities have reported one death due to the tornadoes and about 90 injuries. The storms were among 56 tornadoes that touched down across eight states, stretching as far west as Idaho and Colorado. Monday's damage comes in the midst of 13 straight days of tornadoes hitting the United States through Wednesday (May 29). More than 200 tornadoes struck the Midwest in that span. Read More

• Trump's Bible signing called Southern tradition

  by David Roach, posted Monday, March 11, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from www.youtube.com

  OPELIKA, Ala. (BP) -- When President Trump signed Bibles in an Alabama region devastated by tornadoes, he was giving comfort to survivors by participating in a time-honored Southern tradition, some observers say. Others claim signing Scripture was inappropriate.

  In the South, signatures in a person's Bible "bring back great memories of relationships and friendships and moments in our life," said Rusty Sowell, pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Opelika, Ala., where Trump signed tornado victims' Bibles March 8. Read More

• UPDATED: DR teams on site after EF-3 rips central Ill.

  by Illinois Baptist & BP Staff, posted Tuesday, December 04, 2018 (4 years ago)

  

  IBSA photo

  TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (BP) -- Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) volunteers were in Taylorville, Ill., one day after an EF-3 tornado damaged 500 structures there.

  Rare late-winter storms Nov. 30-Dec. 1 spawned tornadoes in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, killing one person in Missouri, CBS News reported. Though no fatalities have been reported in Illinois, the most severe damage was in Taylorville, some 25 miles southeast of Springfield, Ill., where at least 26 people were injured.

  Several houses in Taylorville were "flattened," and others had their roofs ripped off or saw "gaping holes" torn in their roofs, according to CBS. Read More