“Rich history and a friendly atmosphere” is the simple motto of Putnam County, Tennessee.
Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains serving there this week can attest to the “friendly atmosphere” part.
“I love being in Tennessee,” said chaplain Toni New. “These people are so sweet. They’re so loving, so gracious.”
Toni and her husband, Al, are among a small group of crisis-trained chaplains who were deployed to Middle Tennessee after destructive ice storms toppled trees and snapped power lines.
Serving alongside sister ministry Samaritan’s Purse, the chaplains are ministering to residents who aren’t used to the cold and ice that walloped their county last weekend, sending Tennessee into a state of emergency.
Disaster areas are familiar territory to Toni, who has served with the Rapid Response Team around the world, in the wake of Oklahoma tornadoes and Australia floods. But being born and raised in Tennessee makes this deployment extra special to her.
“I’ve enjoyed it so much, getting to pray with the people and talk to them and listen to their stories,” she said. “The community is just really having a hard time, and they’re needing our help.”
On Wednesday, as temperatures continued to hover around the freezing mark, Al, Toni and the team walked the streets of the small town of Monterey, visiting residents who had been stuck at home for days.
They met a couple that was upset they couldn’t clean up the debris from the ice storm because of health issues. They still didn’t have power and were renting a generator to get by.
“She was so devastated because she and her husband weren’t able to clean up, and they didn’t know where they were going to get help,” Toni said.
While Samaritan’s Purse workers volunteered to chop up the fallen trees in the family’s yard, Rapid Response Team chaplains spent time talking and praying with the couple.
“She cried and cried,” Toni said. “She was so thankful. She wanted to pray with us, and she prayed for us. She took pictures of the team. She was just so grateful and excited that God sent people to help her and her husband.”
Wherever they went, the chaplains encountered the same thankful spirit, the same deep faith.
They saw it in the Korean war veteran who couldn’t stop talking about the many times God has protected him.
And they saw it in a man who can’t get out to church with his wife, but earnestly seeks the Lord every day.
“All day long he watches preachers and programs on TV, and he loves to watch Billy Graham,” Toni said. “We had a special prayer that God would bring healing for him and give him the strength that he needed to go to church and enjoy the fellowship and hear the word of God.”
Most of the people seem to know that God loves them, but the face-to-face reminder the chaplains bring has been most welcome in the midst of a cold and difficult winter.
“We’re here to bring hope and the love of Jesus to these people during this disaster,” Toni said.
“It’s almost like you’re verifying to them and showing them that the Jesus they serve really does know what they’re going through, and He really does care about them.”
