May 12, 1999
After losing home to fire,
Elliffs lose another to storm
___DEL CITY, Okla. (BP)--Tom Elliff knew he and his wife were living in temporary housing. He just didn't know how temporary it really would be.
___Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Del City and immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, lost his suburban Oklahoma City home to a fire in February. Then on May 3, the townhouse in which he and his wife, Jeannie, were living as temporary quarters was leveled by one of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded in the United States.
___"We didn't lose much," Elliff said, "because we didn't have much," after losing nearly all their possessions in the earlier fire.
___Elliff's Del City congregation suffered an even more serious loss in the tornado, however. Retired associate pastor Jake Self, 86, was killed when one of the violent twisters sliced through his home. His wife, Galelia, survived the destruction.
___The tornado picked up a van and dropped it on his house where he and his wife were huddled in a closet.
___Texas Baptist Men set up a disaster relief unit at the Del City church, serving 2,700 meals Wednesday, 6,000 Thursday and 4,750 Friday. The need for food service was expected to continue, and the Texas volunteers were likely to be called on for an additional range of clean-up services in the days ahead.
___Disaster relief Coordinator Jim Parrish asked Baptists to pray for all the victims of last week's storms.
___He told of stopping at a traffic light Friday and seeing a young woman in the next car sit weeping, her head bandaged and both eyes blackened from the storm.
___Many people are looking for help and hope, he said.
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