By Jeff Brumley
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is keeping an eye on the flooding in Colorado and stands prepared to help if and when American Baptist disaster planners ask for it, CBF’s top disaster official said today.
Tommy Deal added in his Monday e-mail blast that it is too early in the disaster-response phase to know what the Fellowship’s role may be in response to the days of rain and flooding in Colorado. Rescue efforts and other immediate infrastructure repairs are ongoing — most of which CBF usually waits to be finished before moving into disaster zones.
According to the church finder feature on CBF’s website, the Fellowship has no congregations in Colorado. However, it partners with with ABC-USA in disaster relief through the North American Baptist Fellowship. Deal said he’s been in direct contact with ABC/USA officials, and they have yet to call for assistance.
In Boulder, American Baptist Pastor Bob Ballance posted on Facebook that thousands of people have flooded basements, and that many of them have no insurance. He said there will be a need for visiting cleanup crews “for the next several months.”
And people in the greater Denver area, where most of the flooding has occurred, aren’t out of danger yet, said Ballance, the pastor of Pine Street Church. That church also has been flooded in recent days.
In his e-mail, Deal urged Baptists to pray and to make financial contributions. They can do so online or by sending checks marked “Disaster Response” to P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, Ga., 30392.