Pastor Mark's Reflections

In 2005, I traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi to help put a new roof on a home of a woman whose house was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.  Like so many, I had seen the pictures and video on television of the damage caused by the storm.  However, something struck different moving through the community months after the powerful storm.  Signs of Katrina’s destruction were everywhere – piles of rubble where houses once stood, neighborhoods seemingly covered entirely in blue tarp, business boarded up with no sign of reopening anytime soon.  However, as we worked and lived in the community for a week, I was struck by the ways something close to normalcy was weaving through the destruction.  Neighbors visited in front yards rather than on still-damaged front porches.  The group of guys that met for coffee at the McDonalds. Kids playing with their friends in whatever clear and safe spaces they could find.  There were moments that the pain of what had been lost would cast a shadow over a moment, but you could see the light of a new day trying to break through.

I thought about that trip driving back from Damascus, Virginia a few weeks ago.  Pastor Greg, Pastor Larry and I took 50 of the Disaster Relief Cleanup Kit buckets to the BGAV Disaster Relief site there where Butch Meredith is serving as site coordinator.  Butch took us around the community for a couple of hours to let us see up close the impact of Hurricane Helene on this small town.  Some of what we saw is in the pictures on this page – devastation and destruction that even these pictures cannot capture.  We met a couple who were on the top floor of their home when the house was carried away by the water and split in two, him on one side of the house and her on the other.  We saw business and homes still vacant, waiting to be rebuilt and renewed.  Yet, weaving through the devastation was the signs of light trying to break through.  That couple we met?  They talked with smiles about how glad they were to be alive and have a community that was taking such good care of them.  The teenage boy sitting in his driveway reconnecting with all his friends after Internet had finally been restored that day.  The cars parked in the diner parking lot usually filled by tourists and now filled by those working relief in the area.

The scars of Helene will be over communities like Damascus for a long time to come, yet even now God is working to help the light of restoration and love and hope break through.  The buckets that we worked to help put together have been a blessing to Damascus and so many other communities, and I am so thankful for everyone that took part in helping to put these together.  These are needed tools in so many communities and will be for some time to come.  But there is also a need for men and women to come and help with the rebuilding of homes and the restoration of peace in body and spirit.  That is why I am excited to announce that a work trip to Damascus, Virginia has been scheduled for March 16-22, 2025.  We will be working with Butch and the Disaster Relief Response Team of the BGAV.  We will also be partnering with at least 2 other congregations – Grandin Court Baptist Church of Roanoke and Gayton Baptist Church of Richmond.  Along with folks who are willing to do building and construction work, they are asking us to bring some folks who will do meal preparation throughout the week (BGAV provides the groceries and equipment). So our team will need a variety of gifts!  If you would be interested in taking part in this trip, please let me know by January 5, 2025.  I know that it may be hard for some to take a whole week for such a trip.  Even if you can’t come for the whole week, we would love to have you be a part for a day or two.  Just let me know.

In the aftermath of a great natural disaster, the prophet Joel proclaimed, “Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things….You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:21, 27). Joel invited the people to be a part of God’s work of redemption and renewal in a land of brokenness and devastation.  We have an opportunity to respond to this ancient call in a community just a few hours down the road.  I invite you to pray about being part of this opportunity to let God’s light break through!

- Pastor Mark