May 22, 2000

Texas and New Mexico Baptists aid fire victims
___By John Loudat
___Baptist New Mexican
___ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--A feeding unit operated by Texas Baptist Men prepared more than 9,000 meals during its first four days of operation in fire-ravaged New Mexico.
___Jered Sellers, unit commander of the Top of Texas disaster relief unit based in Plains, has led Texas Baptist Men work at Glorieta Conference Center, where several hundred residents of Los Alamos, N.M., took refuge after being evacuated from their homes.
___Through noon May 17, Texas Baptist volunteers had prepared 8,790 meals for

TEXAS BAPTIST MEN volunteers propare to feed refugees from the fire in Los Alamos, N.M.

firefighters and evacuees of two fires that were raging in northern New Mexico.
___The Cerro Grande Fire, the largest in the state's history, had consumed more than 46,000 acres by May 17, and a fire near the conference center, the Monument Fire, had burned 80 acres.
___The Plains unit was joined in New Mexico by another Texas Baptist Men unit from the Permian Basin region. The second unit never was activated by the American Red Cross. Volunteers from the Permian Basin unit, however, assisted the Plains unit, Sellers said.
___"We couldn't have done it without them," he said.
___Fred Kinsey, on-site coordinator in Santa Fe for the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported 38 volunteers had been involved in the project.
___The volunteers were preparing meals primarily for firefighters and evacuee centers in the area, and Glorieta was feeding Los Alamos-area residents who had fled to the conference center for shelter.
___On Monday, May 15, the Monument Fire burned six power lines near Glorieta, cutting off power to the conference center for about 12 hours. Since Glorieta was unable to prepare any meals during that time, the Texas unit, which operates with its own power source, prepared an additional 750 meals, which were then served by the Glorieta kitchen staff in Glorieta's cafeteria.
___New Mexico Baptists also were on the front-lines of the relief efforts.
___First Baptist Church of White Rock, a community adjacent to Los Alamos, became a temporary command center and shelter at one point before White Rock also had to be evacuated.
___The stream of volunteers from the church and community "never stopped," said Pastor Chuck McCullough. In addition to serving as the command center and shelter, the church provided all the meals for evacuees and workers over a three-day period.
___Just when things were slowing down at the church, allowing McCullough to go home for what he hoped would be a good night's sleep, the situation changed. He had been home only 15 minutes, when the phone rang. The wildfire now threatened the White Rock community, and its population of 7,000, plus evacuees staying in homes and shelters, would have to be evacuated.
___With his family in the bumper-to-bumper line of vehicles leaving Los Alamos for Santa Fe, McCullough and a friend, Darrik Stafford, returned to the church to lock it up.
___When they arrived, they were greeted by two National Guardsmen, who asked if they had any food. The guardsmen then told them about 50 fellow guardsmen also were hungry, and they asked if the entire crew could come for breakfast.
___McCullough and Stafford started cooking, and the troops arrived at 6 a.m. for a breakfast of French toast and sandwiches. Later, the Emergency Operation Center from Los Alamos National Laboratory called the church, telling McCullough they were hungry, too, and asking if they could come pick up some food.
___Then they called back, telling the pastor of another 200 people still at the lab who also needed food.
___At about 8:30 the next morning, after filling a Suburban full of all the remaining food and water at the church, and long after the town had been emptied, McCullough and Stafford finally left the church.
___The town was supposed to be evacuated, McCullough said, but "we were exactly where we were supposed to be."
___After a quick shower at home, McCullough finally joined his family at about 11:30 a.m. at Glorieta. When he went to the registration desk and was told there would be no charge, "I just broke down in sobs," he recalled.
___David Sims, pastor of First Baptist Church of Los Alamos, said the fire and evacuation taught him and others an important lesson about the inability of humanity to do everything itself.
___Sims said he had been profoundly impacted by a renewed awareness of the limitations of humanity.
___Many of the residents of the town that was the birthplace of the atomic bomb, and whose primary industry continues to be the national lab, possess a great deal of confidence in what they are able to do, Sims said. They are, indeed, able to accomplish many scientific marvels.
___Sims admitted thinking as the unstoppable blaze propelled by high winds raced toward town, "The government is not going to let this town and the national lab burn." But the wildfire reminded him there are some things the greatest human power and ability cannot prevent.
___"It doesn't matter how many Ph.D.s you have," the pastor said.
___"I don't know what God's purpose is," Sims continued. "But his purposes are not going to be stopped by any man."

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