Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) volunteers have spent the week serving as the hands and feet of Jesus in Northeast Arkansas.
Severe storms swept through the area Friday evening into Saturday, bringing an outbreak of tornadoes that left destruction in their wake. According to the Weather Channel, two of the twisters in Arkansas received a preliminary EF4 rating. One of those tornadoes was confirmed in Izard County. The other, which had the most severe damage near Diaz in Jackson County, was reported to be a high-end EF4 tornado with maximum winds of 190 mph.
“This is probably one of the worst, if not the worst, outbreak of tornadoes that Arkansas has had or experienced in several years,” ABDR Director Randy Garrett previously said.
Already in the area for a regional ABDR training event over the weekend at Nettleton Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Garrett said they kept an eye on the forecast, preparing for deployment. Immediately they had teams go out into the communities to help those in need. Teams deployed included Corners Chapel Feeding and Recovery units, Walnut Street Baptist Recovery unit, Central Jonesboro Recovery unit, Baring Cross Box Ministry, Big Creek Association Recovery unit, Current-Gaines Baptist Association Feeding unit, Mt. Zion Baptist Association Shower unit, Rocky Bayou Association, Balboa Baptist Church in Hot Springs Village, White River Association, and eight three-person assessor and chaplain teams. Other units were on standby.
ABDR set up incident command at Eastside Southern Baptist Church in Cave City. They had 72 volunteers work and stay in Cave City.
“We’ve been working all this week in all the towns around there,” Garrett said. “We’re there to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a disaster.”
Over the week, they have had three salvations, planted many seeds of faith, and provided help and hope to those impacted by the tornadoes.
As of today, March 20, Garrett said they are shutting down incident command in Cave City, “but if something comes up, we can always go back and help.”
This Saturday, ABDR has a team from First Baptist Church in Clarksville deploying to Welch, West Virginia, to aid in flood recovery.
ABDR hosts four regional trainings each year. The training provides an opportunity to see the fellowship of Disaster Relief and learn what Disaster Relief is all about.
ABDR extends the love of Christ to disaster survivors. Disaster Relief is a ministry of the heart – caring people going to people in crisis to offer the help, healing, and hope of Jesus Christ.
For more information on ABDR or to register for trainings, visit abscdisasterrelief.org.