TBM helps displaced flood survivors find heavenly home

SONORA—Texas Baptist Men volunteers committed not only to help displaced flood survivors in West Texas return to their houses, but also offer them assurance of an everlasting home.

In Sonora—a community of about 3,000 people 60 miles south of San Angelo—the ground already was saturated when 4 inches of rain fell in a short time Sept. 21. An area just north of town received close to 7 inches, and much of the runoff flowed into the draws to the south.

By early afternoon, branches of Dry Devil’s River that run through Sonora overflowed their banks, flooding between 200 and 300 homes.

TBM disaster relief volunteers arrived quickly. A specialty food-service team from San Angelo set up a field kitchen at the Sutton County 4-H Civic Center, where the crew prepared about 5,000 meals by Sept. 28. The Coastal Plains mobile laundry and shower unit also initially set up outside the civic center.

The educational building at First Baptist Church in Sonora sustained flood damage. Even so, the congregation housed TBM volunteers and allowed them to establish an incident management center inside the church facility and set up a mobile shower and laundry unit from Odessa in its parking lot.

‘God was already out ahead of us’

TBM received more than 100 requests for assistance, specially trained volunteers assessed needs, and flood-recovery crews went to work in flood-damaged homes.

In the home of Juan and Maria Capuchina—which had filled with about 2.5 feet of water—TBM volunteers removed water-soaked drywall, replaced the spongy flooring in one room and disinfected surfaces to mitigate mold.

Their work provided an open door for Brenda Bomar, a TBM volunteer chaplain from First Baptist Church in Hallettsville, to initiate a spiritual conversation with Maria Capuchina.

“The lady of the house” expressed concern for her husband, who is on dialysis, Bomar said.

“She didn’t speak a lot of English, but she wanted me to pray with her.”

Recognizing an opportunity to address deeper spiritual needs, Bomar asked if Capuchina’s daughter, Mayra, could translate.

So, Bomar presented the gospel to the mother, daughter and a son, Juan Jr. All three expressed the desire to commit their lives to Christ, and Bomar led them in prayer.

Later, when Maria Capuchina’s niece arrived, Bomar also was able to witness to her and lead her to faith in Christ.

“Their hearts were ready,” Bomar said. “God was already out ahead of us.”

Building bridges

God also used the volunteers to build bridges between Anglo and Hispanic believers in Sonora, said Mike Pedigo, one of the leaders of a TBM crew from Golden Triangle Baptist Association.

Matt Killough, pastor of First Baptist Church in Sonora, told the disaster relief crews Primera Iglesia Bautista had sustained damage to its worship facility.

“The water rose and went back down pretty quickly—within a couple of hours, from what we heard,” Pedigo said.

The TBM team volunteers discovered members of Primera already had unbolted pews from the floor in the sanctuary and removed damaged drywall from the worship facility.

However, they learned the church hoped to meet in its damaged parsonage until the worship center could be restored and recognized an opportunity to help the congregation’s bivocational pastor, who was living in a trailer nearby.

“We pulled up carpet in the parsonage and disinfected it so the church could meet there on Wednesday night,” Pedigo said. The TBM team also left the congregation plenty of cleaning supplies to enable them to continue the work they had begun on their worship facility, he added.

Widespread response

While about 50 disaster relief volunteers worked in Sonora, other TBM crews continued to meet needs in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence. By Sept. 28, they already had contributed about 4,000 volunteer hours as part of ongoing efforts in the area around Bayboro, N.C.

A TBM flood-recovery crew from Waco Regional Baptist Association was prepared to serve on the East Coast when they were redirected to West Texas.

“We were packed up and ready to go to North Carolina when we got the call to come here,” said Sam Yates, a volunteer from Oak Grove Baptist Church in China Springs.

TBM disaster recovery teams likely will be involved in Sonora up to six weeks repairing homes, as well as continuing to respond to needs caused by Hurricane Florence, said Terry Henderson, state disaster relief director for the missions organization.

To contribute financially, send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas, TX 75227, call (214) 275-1116 or click here.