UNEDITED NEWS RELEASE — BOILING SPRINGS, NC – Dr. Frank Bonner, president of Gardner-Webb University, provided the funds that made it possible for a team of divinity students to travel to the Gulf Coast this fall semester. Ten people participated in The Divinity School Fall Break Mission to Mississippi. The Gardner-Webb team joined the disaster relief efforts of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) in Pearlington, MS, a small, rural community of about 2500 people who were left completely devastated after Hurricane Katrina.
The team from Gardner-Webb picked up where other volunteers before them had left off, helping to rebuild homes and to restore hope for families who lost all their belongings in August 2005, well over a year ago. Divinity students worked alongside one homeowner, helping him to put up drywall. “Finally, I have rooms in my house,” exclaimed the grateful homeowner at the completion of the project. Other projects during the week included building a porch, deck and shed.
The Gardner-Webb team joined efforts with a church group from Wilmington, NC, on one project and together they laid the foundation of a house. As the team members strained their backs and muscles—some digging with shovels, others casting pickaxes into the tough and polluted soil—and as the rain poured down from above, the people of Pearlington stopped on their way to and from work to offer encouragement and gratitude to the team. The Gardner-Webb team helped to rebuild four houses in Pearlington during their mission trip.
Upon arriving in Pearlington, the divinity students were welcomed by the members of a local African-American church. To show their appreciation to the volunteers, the church members provided a complimentary home-cooked meal at lunch each day. The pastor invited divinity students, Bryan Evans and Jesse Flynt, to preach at the Wednesday night church service. Other divinity students led the congregation in worship and praise. “I am overwhelmed,” said one student, Chad Morris, after the service. “They have absolutely nothing, and yet, they live like they have everything.” The divinity students shared messages of hope with the people of Pearlington. The people of Pearlington showed the students how to live the messages of hope with the anticipation of restoration.
The long trip back to Gardner-Webb University at the end of the week was marked with the same excitement as the trip down to Pearlington. The students returned to their churches in North Carolina, eager to share the stories of restoration and hope. Jenni Courtright, divinity student and minister at Christ Covenant Church North in Polkville, NC, put together a team from her church that will join the efforts of CBF next spring. Rob Collins, another student, is making plans to return to Pearlington on his own. “The ministry opportunities are endless down there,” Collins said. Divinity student, Terry Honeycutt, collected money from her church, First Baptist Church of Rutherfordton, NC, to send to the church members in Pearlington who so selflessly and sacrificially feed the volunteers day after day. Honeycutt also sent textbooks, food and supplies to the town of Pearlington. The Gardner-Webb team continues to be in contact with the families that soon will live in the homes the students helped to rebuild and to restore.
“The students and I are grateful to our Christian leaders, President Frank Bonner and the Divinity School leaders, who nurture the desire in us to serve the needs of this world, and who made The Divinity School Fall Break Mission to Mississippi possible,” said Deborah Gaddis, mission team leader. “Pearlington is in a state of physical ruin and devastation, but the reality is that our whole world is in need of restoration. The mission is so great.” Gardner-Webb University seeks a higher calling in higher education, and prepares students to serve the great needs of this world.
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