ENTERPRISE, Ala. (ABP) — Baptist relief workers were literally on the scene when a powerful tornado dealt a deadly blow to the high school in Enterprise, Ala., March 1.
Hillcrest Baptist Church, which sits right next to Enterprise High School, became a practically immediate triage center and rendezvous point for reuniting the stunned students with their anxious families.
According to news reports, the church's fellowship hall served as a place for emergency medical workers to treat injured students. As of midday March 2, local authorities reported the storm had killed nine people — eight were students at the school.
Other tornadoes the same day killed a Missouri child and at least nine others in Georgia.
Officials at the Coffee County Baptist Association, which includes Baptist churches in the Enterprise area, said Hillcrest sustained little or no damage from the storm. But at least two other Baptist churches in the town of approximately 22,000 did.
Bill Bullington, a member of Lee Street Baptist Church, said his church's building sustained significant roof damage, including losing part of the sanctuary's roof.
He said Pastor Larry Doster could not comment about the damage because he had to tend to his home, which is located in a heavily damaged part of the city.
According to John Granger, director of the Coffee County association, Doster “had about half of [his] roof blown off.”
Lance Hogan, pastor of First Baptist Church of Enterprise, said March 2 the tornado “came right across the street and down the road” but avoided a direct hit on his downtown church facility. He reported only minor damage — a missing pane of glass “about the size of a hand” in one sanctuary window and a few missing shingles from the roof.
He said the entire town is devastated by the storm.
“It's unbelievable,” he said. “This is something that happens somewhere else.”
Hogan said his church is serving as a Red Cross shelter and staging facility for relief workers. First Baptist housed about 80 people left homeless the night of March 1, he reported.
“We have had people staying here whose children were killed” at the school, he said. “We ask for prayers for these families.”
Officials from the Coffee County Association office said several of the children were members of affiliated churches. One was the grandson of the association's retired director of missions, Joel Jackson.
Several other Alabama Baptist churches and organizations had mobilized to lend aid by March 2. The relief efforts included:
— Approximately 10 disaster-relief teams dispatched by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. One of those was a crew from Vaughn Forest Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., that included Rick Lance, the board's executive director.
— Thirteen chaplains trained in critical incident stress management dispatched to Enterprise, according to Joe Bob Mizzell. He directs Christian ethics and chaplaincy ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
— A check for an undisclosed amount of money given by the state board to Hillcrest Baptist Church to support relief efforts there and at other churches in the area.
— Chainsaw crews from the Birmingham, Ala., and Bessemer, Ala., Baptist Associations went to the area around Adamsville, Ala., to help remove fallen trees.
In addition to the devastation in Enterprise, several other tornadoes caused damage in the region. Alabama Baptist officials reported damage to Shady Grove Baptist Church in Mulga, Ala. Another deadly tornado damaged the area around Riverview Baptist Church in Wilcox County, Ala., according to officials with the Pine Barren Baptist Association.
A tornado also struck Americus, Ga., March 1. According to news reports, the First Baptist Church of Americus has been set up as a shelter for victims. The storm may have destroyed as many as 400 homes in the town of 20,000, authorities said.
-30-
— Grace Thornton and Jennifer Davis Rash of the Alabama Baptist contributed to this story.