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DIANA?It wasn’t unusual for Pastor Mike Brittain to preach at Morton Baptist Church, an SBTC congregation in Diana, Texas, Sunday morning on May 18. After all, he has preached there for the last 20 years, and preached the previous Sunday evening.
What was unusual was that he had been home less than eight hours during the week between those two sermons.
The East Texas Disaster Relief ministry, Brittain and 11 other volunteers left Texas at
“God opened the doors for ministry,” Brittain said about their ministry with the mobile kitchen in Canton, Mo. During the week, they served a total of 3,135 meals.
More than 40 buildings suffered damage in the city after storms, high winds and numerous tornados touched down just a day before the Texas disaster relief team left the Lone Star State.
In all, according to media reports, more than 300 tornadoes hit the central states in May, with more than 45 storm-related deaths, including 18 in Missouri. Fortunately, in the area where Brittain and others went, no deaths were registered.
The Texas team was activated by a call from Joel Phillips with the North American Mission Board to go to Missouri. While the physical disaster was evident there, Jerry Jones, a deacon at Morton Baptist Church and also a member of the East Texas Disaster Relief team, said that spiritual disaster there was also evident.
“There is a great need for revival in that area,” Jones said. In a community service held at a Methodist church following the disaster, Jones and Brittain said that there was no mention of God, Jesus Christ or thanks to the Almighty for the sparing of lives. “It was really strange. There’s a woman pastor of a church there whose husband is a Buddhist,” Brittain described. “The community service missed a great opportunity to bring the focus to Christ.”
The people he met “were super” and greatly appreciative of the ministry provided. However, he and others on the team sensed a great spiritual darkness there and following the community service, several went back to the local Baptist church. “We had a two hour service there, praising the Lord.”
When Brittain returned from Missouri, he preached Sunday morning and evening, but didn’t take the following Monday off. Instead, Brittain had previously agreed to coordinate SBTC’s Iraqi Food Relief project in the Diana area. With trucks leaving the area that week, he, Jones and Jim Barry, also a member of the church and the ETDR team, helped package and transport 59 boxes of food and drove an hour to the Tyler drop-off location.
While that may be unusual for others, it’s about par for the course for Brittain. In his church of just under one hundred regular attenders, more than half are involved in disaster relief minister. Their church alone collected 16 boxes of food.
Brittain was also on the scene in South Texas earlier this year, ministering to workers following the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. Last year, Brittain was in the Middle East watching rockets and bombs flying overhead in the Gaza Strip, while he was providing assistance to those in need.
Perhaps one of the most miraculous things about Brittain was that he is still on the earthly side of eternity.
On
But God proved merciful, and within five months, Brittain was at Ground Zero in New York City, doing what he loves best: providing disaster relief.
Last year, the Texas Baptist Men presented Brittain with the Parabaloni award, recognizing his work in providing relief literally around the world. Brittain serves as a member of the Executive Board of Texas Baptist Men and also serves as a Harrison County volunteer firefighter.
And if they need help in delivering food in Iraq?
“I’ll be willing to go, but only if God wills,” Brittain said.
