March 24, 2003
Corsicana church changes meeting
times to embrace debris searchers
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___CORSICANA--Sometimes home missions begins closer to home than anyone ever imagined.
___That's what Northside Baptist Church of Corsicana has discovered as a tent city of about 1,400 workers are bivouacked about a half mile down the road from the church.
___Smoke jumpers, U.S. Forest Service personnel and American Indians from 37 states who have come to Central Texas to search for space shuttle debris inhabit the temporary city.
___While many people may be surprised that the search continues, especially on such a large scale, the area surrounding Corsicana is believed to be crucial to determining what might have gone wrong because it is near the beginning of the debris path. The Sh
MEMBERS of the team searching for space shuttle debris take a break in their "tent city" in Corsicana. uttle Search and Recovery team is searching an area of 100,000 acres and is expected to complete its task about the middle of April.
"God sat them down next to us. We need to minister to them anyway we can."
___ --Pastor Bob Webb
___The influx of workers constitutes a population almost as large as Navarro County's second-largest city, Kerens.
___To Pastor Bob Webb and his congregation, that's an opportunity for ministry.
___"God sat them down next to us," Webb said. "We need to minister to them any way we can."
___The idea for ministry began as Webb and some of his members saw the workers walking down the street, most toward a convenience store with a pay telephone. "We got to talking with some of them, and soon some of them were coming to services."
___For most of the workers, however, the church's service times were inconvenient if not impossible to make. The 6 p.m. start time for Sunday and Wednesday nights did not give them time to get the mud and grime off from a 12-hour workday trekking through sometimes rough, tiring terrain.
___Webb asked his church to move services back to 8 p.m. until the camp disperses, and the church enthusiastically agreed. To avoid seeing the window of opportunity for ministry close, the church made the decision without waiting the two weeks necessary to call a business meeting. The deacons and missions committee made the recommendation at the pastor's urging, and the church affirmed the decision all on the same Sunday morning.
___"God sometimes gives us opportunities that we have to grab or they will disappear. I'm not sure every church would change its service time on the spur of the moment, but this one did with excitement--I mean they were almost shouting," Webb reported. "I'm sure some are inconvenienced by the change in times, but I haven't heard anything negative."
___The 35 to 40 search team members who have been coming to the services are getting a full taste of church despite the late hour. They have been treated to renderings of a 70-member choir and orchestra, a sermon from Webb and a large dose of Texas hospitality. The church and local businesses worked together to provide desserts the first few services, and Webb encouraged local Mexican restaurants to provide chips and salsa on another.
___The church also has worked hard to collect current magazines to be distributed at the camp for after-hours reading material.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas also helped the church provide more than 1,000 New Testaments in Spanish and English.
___"We've just tried to be available for whatever they have needed," Webb said. "The Northside Baptist Church van even took eight people to the Catholic church for the rites on Ash Wednesday. That was a little ironic."
___One of the challenges for the church is that most of the team members are only in the camp for two to three weeks, meaning a portion of the camp is continually rotating out and another group coming in.
___Nevertheless, the rewards have been great for those coming to Corsicana and the church members who live there, Webb said.
___"This has been a refuge to me," one of the rescue workers told Webb.
___"Another man had tears in his eyes and told me how much it meant to be able to worship with God's people after being away from his church at home for so long," the pastor added.
___"I have met some of the finest people working at the camp that I have met in a long time," Webb said. "I should not be surprised, but God is reminding me again that when we give, we receive even more. That has definitely been the case with the friendships I have made at the camp."
___
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