When Hurricane Ivan pummeled the island of Grenada on Sept. 7, 2004, with winds gusting to 145 mph, 89 per cent of the homes of the 100,000 residents were severely damaged. Thirty percent (10,000 homes) were completely destroyed. In addition, all six of the Baptist churches on Grenada were damaged, suffering either flooding or major damage to their roofs.
Virginia Baptist disaster relief volunteers responded with food, water and construction teams and were able to assist Grenadans in repairing all of the Baptist churches.
In July 2006 Virginia Baptists provided a different kind of assistance: Vacation Bible School. Upon the request of the Grenada Baptist Fellowship moderator, Nehru Lalsee, 33 Virginia Baptist volunteers partnered with each church to provide the children of the island VBS from July 17-21. Nearly 600 children participated in the VBS programs at the six sites.
“Sometimes helping a neighbor means that we bring a hammer. This time it meant that we brought our Bibles and a love for these kids,” says Pastor Randy Clipp of Monument Heights Baptist Church in Richmond.
The VBS volunteers stayed at a retreat center in Woburn, on the south side of the island. There was no air conditioning, television, internet access or phones, but the group of Virginia Baptists did have each other. The teams from Abingdon Baptist in Abingdon, Monument Heights in Richmond, and Calvary Baptist in Lynchburg, ate meals together and had evening devotions together before dividing into church prayer groups. Each morning the Grenada churches would pick up the three Abingdon teams, two Monument Heights teams, and the Calvary team and travel to their VBS sites, sometimes picking up children and workers on the way.
A resourceful missions volunteer at Calvary, Tamara Lemon, came with her son Jacob and daughter Allison for their very first international mission experience. Kathy Potts and her rising ninth grade son, Dylan, also decided to participate. Encouraged by deacon Charlie Shaeff, who is a retired high school teacher with years of volunteer missions experience, the Calvary team worked with Pastor Jerome Scott and Sister Erma Edwards in sharing the gospel message with as many as 120 children at Rose Hill Church.
Adapting to limitations with space, the teams used different curriculums and brought their own craft supplies. They taught the children American Bible songs but also learned Grenadan songs to take home as well. But what they learned most was how God's love is international.
Mark McCormick, a deacon at Abingdon Church, was moved by the fervent love expressed by the Grenada Baptists in their worship of God. “The people we worked with in Grenada had a passion for God that I wish we had more of,” he said.
The passion and love experienced in Grenada has transformed the thinking of many of the volunteers, particularly some of the youth. Kyle Pollard reflected, “We really got close to the children we worked with in VBS in such a short time. I'll never forget the faces and smiles. I just can't get out of my mind how little they had in the way of material things. It's made me rethink what I think is important.”
Thinking was not the only thing that changed. At least 36 professions of faith resulted from the week in Grenada. The mission team discovered firsthand that love is a partnership that works both ways.