Looking out at damage in Bayou La Batre shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Kristina Peterson, PDA National Volunteer

“We’ve never done anything like this before!” Those were the words that resounded through the sanctuary of Reedy Fork Baptist Church, on that Sunday when the announcement was made that we would be assisting John Knox Presbyterian Church on a mission trip to Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Those words weren’t spoken with the usual sound of apprehension as they sometimes are, but with an edge of excitement. It had been three years since God had given our fellowship a mission trip opportunity and we had not had anything similar to this. We began to pray, as we knew that God had given this special opportunity to us, and we wanted to follow in obedience. Our prayers were for the usual things — safety, provision, but then they took a different route; we prayed that God would prepare those that He had already selected for this trip and for the people that they, in turn, would come in contact with. So often we reason away the Holy Spirit’s leading, and our prayers turned to “Let us be obedient to your calling”.

Finally, our team was selected…and what a motley crew they were! Eleven people who answered the call and said, “Here I am, send me!” We had 11 who responded, with four men in this crew that were great handymen and one who actually was a finished carpenter. The rest of this crew had never even picked up a paintbrush…but their hearts were broken and they were ready and anxious to learn. Our counterparts at John Knox were experienced and had the information and contacts. Could we actually do this?? Could this really work??

Our God is bigger than we give Him credit for being and when we just take Him at His Word, what mighty work He will do in our lives. He took John Knox’s experienced team and Reedy Fork’s willing hands and hearts and molded the two into a group of people unified in their love for Christ and their desire to see the people of Bayou La Batre regain their homes and their lives. Our team met an elderly couple, who had been living in a FEMA trailer for 13 months, whose resources and hopes were slowly dwindling away.

The team was able to finish 2 rooms and, pooling their resources, in love purchased a much needed washer and dryer for these folks, so that they would no longer have to make the 20 mile journey to a daughter’s house to do laundry. One of our “handymen” drove a long flatbed truck so he could pick up a large dump truck body (to be used in his business) on the way back to Greenville, not realizing that God planned even that part. They would find that his team would need the bed of that truck to be used as scaffolding so they could hang weatherboards on the outside of a house.

Our team was met with kindness from our teammates, gracious hospitality from Cottage Hill Presbyterian Church which housed and helped feed our folks, hard work and laughter on the job site, humility and gratitude from those that we came to help and a sense that our faith no longer hides behind our denomination. Wow! Maybe that was the lesson all along!

Jesus asked Peter the same burning question that He asks us, “Do you love Me?”

Peter answered as we do, “Lord, you know I love You!” Christ then gave him the same command that He gives us, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

We have learned that sometimes, “feeding the sheep” is hanging drywall, sanding a room until your arms are tired, or standing on the bed of a truck to hang weatherboard, crawling under a house to check a leak, or just giving a kind word or encouragement to someone who is trying to understand why they lost everything and why someone would come from so far way just to help.

I can stand and say that the hearts of the 11 team members from Reedy Fork Baptist will never be the same, that God has already blessed us from their stories of His grace and provision and that a seed has been planted.

Thank you, John Knox, for inviting us to accompany you! Thank you for your example of leadership, cooperation and willingness to heed the call of Christ as well as your willingness to take a chance on partnering with a little Baptist church from Moonville, South Carolina. May we remember the lessons that we learned, we are one in Christ and one in service, and may we be given the opportunity to share what we have learned.

Respectfully and lovingly submitted for the Glory of God,

Janis Phillips
Reedy Fork Baptist Church