By Ken Camp Disaster-relief volunteers from Texas Baptist Men offered comfort to injured people, helped clear debris and provided meals to rescue workers after tornadoes ripped through North Central Texas Wednesday evening, May 15. A series of tornadoes touched down…
Newtown event inspires disaster officials
By Jeff Brumley A CBF-supported conference called to help Newtown-area clergy has inspired Fellowship leaders to develop plans for responding to man-made disasters like the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. The April 26 workshop in Connecticut has similarly led other participants,…
Disaster ministry: calling or compulsion?
By Jeff Brumley Leaders of faith-based disaster-recovery agencies say there’s nothing like calamity to invigorate a Christian’s faith. Pastors of churches where disasters strike have noticed a difference in people, too. “Whether it’s man-made or something from nature, I think…
Haiti trauma tool works in Newtown
By Bob Allen A tool designed to help pastors deal with trauma following the 2010 Haiti earthquakes is translating well into other cultures, said a Mercer University professor who used the storytelling-based exercise April 26 with clergy in the Newtown,…
Baylor campus moved by memorial
By Daniel Wallace Some students and faculty at Baylor University said they felt the pain of the tragedy in West – both when it happened and on Thursday when a memorial for its victims was held on their campus. ABPnews…
What now for West, Texas?
By Marv Knox and Jeff Brumley The outpouring of sympathy and solidarity for West, Texas, has been immense since a fertilizer plant explosion killed 15 – including 12 first-responders – on April 17. Thursday’s memorial in nearby Waco underscored that by…
Obama, Bible play big in West memorial
By Marv Knox and Jeff Brumley Today’s memorial service for 12 firefighters killed in West, Texas, on April 17 was laced with prayer, scripture and the theme that tragedy brings people and communities together. Even President Obama came bearing a…
West, Texas, church gathers for worship
By John Hall and Jeff Brumley Its church building still in lockdown four days after a fertilizer plant explosion killed 14 people and injured 200 others, members of First Baptist Church in West, Texas, gathered in a makeshift altar in…
Baptists respond to blast with aid, prayer
By Jeff Brumley Local, regional and state church groups responded April 18 to the deadly fertilizer explosion that leveled portions of West, Texas, on Wednesday night. Baptist pastors and secretaries in congregations dotting the map around the central Texas city…