June 18, 2001
See list of churches in need of help.
Many Houston churches need assistance after flooding
___By George Henson & Ken Camp
___HOUSTON--Once following a flood, a dove was sent bearing an olive branch as a sign of encouragement that things were going to get better.
___Many Houston-area churches are now looking north, south and west for messengers of hope and help.
___Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade sent a June 12 letter to pastors statewide alerting them to the need.
DONNA HANSON, minister of administration at Deer Park First Baptist Church, points out the water line on pews. Floodwater destroyed the auditorium carpet.
___"Although we can't do everything, we must not let that keep us from doing something," Wade's letter said. "Please join your fellow Texas Baptists in praying for all those in need and in providing financial help as they work to recover from this devastation."
___"We need some help," pleaded Joyce Crowson, church clerk at Farrington Baptist Church in Houston. "We've had the same senior citizens here since Sunday, but we need some more bodies."
___The church building was flooded with water four and half feet deep. Carpet was ruined, tile was stripped from the floors, Sunday School records were soaked, computers and copiers destroyed--all during the hours of June 8 when torrential rains deluged the city.
___The church carries no flood insurance, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been contacted. The church was told it could be a week to 10 days before anyone would be out and that nothing should be discarded until it was inspected, Crowson said.
___She said she was trying to lay the church records out in the sun to dry out. "Then I'll just buy new ones and copy them over, I guess."
___"We just need whatever help anyone can give us. We probably won't be able to do anything more than just hold services for months," she lamented. "Maybe someone has some doors for us. Our hollow-core doors just came to pieces. We can't even turn our alarms on--but then we don't have anything anybody would want either."
___The church didn't have services June 10 because the building still was under water.
___Pastor Jerry Smith had not even seen his church by the Wednesday after the storm; he and his wife had been working tirelessly to help their mothers dry out and clean up their homes. But the pastor said he was grateful to his aging congregation for their work on the church.
___"We're just a small congregation, and a handful of them are down there cleaning up and buying cleaning supplies they can't really afford," he said.
___On the north side of Houston, not far from Intercontinental Airport, members of Memorial Baptist Church also rallied to work on their storm-damaged church.
___Up to 6 inches of floodwater filled an unoccupied staff house owned by the church. About 1 inch of water covered the floors of the church's family life center and preschool building.
___The church had just remodeled its preschool area about six months ago, according to church administrator Charlotte Ogden. "But we're just so thankful the water didn't go into the worship center," she added.
___At least 35 member families at Memorial Baptist Church sustained property damage to varying degrees, Ogden noted. One member had 4 feet of water in his house, and another family lost two cars in the flood.
PHIL MEYER, a member of Memorial Baptist Church in Houston, pulls up soggy carpet from a parlor in the church's family life center. Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Allison soaked the church's preschool building and family life center, as well as an unoccupied staff house.
___The church opened the doors of its damaged facility to residents of a nearby apartment complex on Friday night, June 8. About 150 displaced people stayed overnight at the church, where church members cooked meals for them from their well-stocked benevolence pantry.
___On the northwest side of Houston, Baptist Temple also sustained significant damage to its facility, particularly in its basement-level kitchen, Sunday School rooms and fellowship hall.
___"We were pretty much knocked out of business on Sunday," Pastor Paul Kenley said. "But we did have a small worship service for those who didn't get the word and showed up."
___By Tuesday, June 12, Kenley had learned of at least a dozen member families who had sustained damage to their homes, and he expected to discover others in the days to come.
___Four days after the flood, a huge shop fan roared in one corner of the church basement while smaller box fans whirred at various spots throughout the church's lower level in an effort to dry and air out the facility. The sharp, pungent smell of bleach and disinfectant could not mask the musty odor.
___"It kind of makes you wonder why people who live among the swamps ever built basements," Kenley mused.
___Timber Grove Baptist Church had 2 feet of water in its 450-seat auditorium, chapel, three education buildings, nursery and gymnasium.
___"It's a sopping mess," Pastor A.M. Stone said. "We're a handful of elderly people of about 30 with all this to clean up." Carpets, the church organ and three pianos were damaged as well as the walls, he said.
___"We just couldn't believe it when we saw the water 2 feet deep in our church," he said. "But we're going to repair and keep going."
___While the church is small, Stone said, it's ministries are important.
___"We have a ministry to the elderly in our congregation and to those in the surrounding community. We also have a Hispanic mission that meets here and our Door to Recovery ministry for those with drug and alcohol problems," he explained.
___Bruce Briston, a trustee of Grove Baptist Church in Deer Park, said preliminary damage estimates there range from $40,000 to $50,000. All the carpeting, sheetrock in the bottom of the walls and insulation inside the walls must be replaced after 3 inches of water created a shallow pond in the building. Training materials and materials used in the children's area also were lost. The church had no flood insurance.
___Grove Baptist Church held services in the fellowship hall the Sunday after the storm.
___Wilson Garcia, pastor of Grace Mission, said two of his church's three buildings were flooded. A team from First Baptist Church in Houston helped remove the ruined carpet.
___Training materials for the Hispanic congregation's cell group leaders also were lost in the floodwaters. Garcia estimated the damage at $20,000 for the uninsured congregation.
___Park Temple Baptist Church in Houston got only about a half-inch of water in three of its buildings, but the result was still a lot of carpeting soaked beyond repair.
___The church had no flood insurance because "it's never done this before," Pastor Pete Slagle said.
___Slagle said the church did hold services Sunday.
___"We had water seeping out from under the pulpit, and by the time we asked people to come forward, they couldn't come all the way forward, but we still had one man get saved," he said.
___Second Baptist Church in Houston coordinated work in relief efforts June 14. They offered volunteers training, directions to areas of need and tools necessary to do the work.
___Financial assistance for damaged Houston churches may be sent to the Baptist General Convention of Texas or Union Baptist Association.
___Gifts sent to the BGCT should be marked "Disaster Relief" and mailed to: Treasurer, Baptist General Convention of Texas, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.
___Gifts sent directly to Union Association should be mailed to 2040 North Loop West, Suite 300, Houston 77018, but indicate if funds are for churches, families in need of assistance or for use in restoring the association's own office.
___Money may not be an olive branch, but the sight of this kind of green is the encouragement many Houston churches need.
Houston churches in need of assistance Church Contact Phone First Baptist Church, Deer Park Donna Hanson (281) 479-2391 Park Temple Baptist Church, Houston Pete Slagle (713) 466-5619 Park Temple Baptist Church, Pasadena Andy Kight (713) 473-8634 Grace Mission, Houston Wilson Garcia (281) 469-2805 Farrington Baptist Church, Houston Coy Wyatt (713) 541-0243 Grove Baptist Church, Deer Park Bruce Briston (281) 476-0072 New Life Community Church, Eddie Deckard (713) 635-2399 Iglesia Bautista Calvario, Houston Noe Garcia (713) 697-6851 Unity Baptist Church, Houston George Elledge (281) 442-5455 John Ralston United Baptist Church, Houston Mark Standridge (713) 703-8918 Timber Grove Baptist Church, Houston A.M. Stone (713) 462-3336 Iglesia Bautista Sinai, Houston Jim Loutham (281) 872-1422 Iglesia Bautista Betania, Houston Ricardo Castillo (713) 694-9733 Iglesia Bautista de Gracia, Houston Jesus Cisneros (713) 455-0723 Templo Cristo te Llama, Houston Bulmaro Luna (713) 697-1132 Parkway Baptist Church, Houston Elbert White (713) 455-4083 Greater New Covenant Church, Houston Benjamin Rideaux (713) 283-5195 Ecclesia, Houston Chris Seay (713) 622-1846 Abiding Love Baptist Church, Houston M.D. Bolden (713) 631-2137 Alief Baptist Church, Houston Donald Burgs (281) 530-6893 San Jacinto Baptist Church, Deer Park Chris Richey (281) 479-2391
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