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MOREAUVILLE, La.—The week America turned 250, a couple in Louisiana discovered a new kind of freedom in Jesus Christ, thanks to a divine appointment with Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief crews who brought help and hope to this small town in Avoyelles Parish.
Mid-June torrential rains from Tropical Storm Arthur swamped central and southern Louisiana, southeastern Mississippi, and lower Alabama, prompting Southern Baptist Disaster Relief crews to action. SBTC DR volunteers hastened to the Bayou State mere days after the deluge. Assessors, chaplains, support feeding, and incident management teams were hard at work in the field by June 25.
“It is a typical deployment doing mud out—a dirty job,” said Wally Leyerle, SBTC DR associate and incident commander at Moreauville. One job, he added, proved especially providential.
As usual, assessors visited survivors to gauge property damage and ascertain if SBTC DR recovery crews could provide assistance. A six-person team operating out of Flint Baptist Church contacted homeowners Steve and Cindy to follow through on a work request the couple had submitted. A job that would normally take two days turned into a week-long project at the home.
“It was real strange. Normally we don’t take a week to do a job like that. Normally that job would take a couple days,” said David McClung, Flint team leader. “The heat and humidity slowed us up. We also had to move things in the house. Normally, when we go in a house, there’s nothing inside. We just go in and handle the ‘bad stuff’”—soggy sheetrock, wet flooring, sodden carpet. “Here we had some extra work.”
Volunteers also found they had the homeowners working alongside them when Steve and Cindy insisted on helping.
“We usually see the homeowner at the beginning and maybe at the end,” McClung explained, noting that the couple jumped in to help by moving and packing items while crews tore off sheetrock and hauled debris and ruined flooring outside before spraying the home with anti-mold treatment.
Throughout the week, volunteers and homeowners became friends—and eventually brothers and sisters in Christ.
Motivated by the flood
SBTC DR volunteers Andie and Jack Skidmore of Bryan-College Station deployed with the Flint team. Flood response is dear to Andie’s heart, as she experienced flooding twice as a child in Houston.
“Evangelism is my passion. In DR, recovery is my favorite thing to do,” Andie said. “I had been in [the homeowners’] place before. I know what it is to have your home either destroyed or flooded and not know what to do.”
Each day, before work begins, SBTC DR teams circle up to pray with homeowners. “We can see the pain they are going through,” Andie said.
She sensed a kindred spirit in homeowner Cindy.
“If you need someone to talk to,” Andie told Cindy, turning around to reveal the word “Chaplain” emblazoned on the back of her yellow SBTC DR shirt, “I will pray with you anytime.”
“I am Catholic, you know,” Cindy replied.
“That’s OK,” Andie said. “I can pray for you.”
Throughout the week, other team members encouraged Steve and Cindy. “We loved on ’em and prayed with ’em,” McClung said.
The homeowners worked and watched, noting the respectful manner in which the DR volunteers carried their damaged household belongings outside to be hauled away. The ladies in the crew comforted Cindy with hugs and reassurances.
The homeowners also noted the cheerful demeanor of the volunteers.
“Our team is familiar with each other… We chat, laugh, have fun. People hear us and they see we are in the muck, drenched in sweat. None of us get angry with each other. None are in a bad mood,” Andie said.
By the third morning of the job, Cindy was waiting outside for the crews.
“Are we gonna pray today?” she asked. They did, and Cindy’s eagerness prompted Andie to visit with her privately.
“Have you ever asked Jesus to come into your heart?” Andie asked. Seldom had Andie been so direct, but she remembered Leyerle’s admonition that DR was about more than physical restoration.
“I don’t believe I have,” Cindy replied.
“Would you like to?” Andie asked, explaining the plan of salvation when Cindy said yes.
Afterward, Andie announced, “We have a new sister today. Welcome her,” and crews paused to cheer and hug Cindy, who implored Andie to tell her husband about salvation in Jesus as well. Clint, too, trusted Christ.
The couple was “on top of the world excited,” Andie said.
Witnessing to the homeowners was a team effort. Everyone played a part through weeklong conversation and prayer.
“Nobody was pushy,” Andie said. “It was nothing I did. It was a joint thing. We loved on them first. We prayed together as a group for them. We laughed. We cried together. … I was just an instrument the Lord used. Thank you, Jesus.”
All free
On day five, work completed, and the crew returned to the home and presented Steve and Cindy with a Bible. As is their practice, SBTC DR crews left the home cleaner than they found it, dirt removed with shop vacs. The couple could again breathe in their home, all sour smells of mold and wet carpet gone.
The homeowners found it “incredible” that the work was provided at no charge, Andie said.
It was totally free, as was their salvation in Christ Jesus.
DR crews continue to serve in Louisiana. As of mid-July, SBTC DR volunteers have contributed 2,590 volunteer hours in the deployment. They have prepared nearly 1,000 meals, made 243 emotional and spiritual care contacts, and assessed and completed almost 40 residential jobs. SBDR crews from Georgia rotated in July 7 to relieve their Texas counterparts, SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice confirmed.
