When Beth* visited the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team’s Mobile Ministry Center in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, she appeared distraught.
The young woman had lost her mobile home in the late-night tornado that hit on March 24. The severe storm system took 26 lives in the Southeast and nearly flattened her small town of Rolling Fork in its 100-mile path of destruction.
It was a miracle Beth survived.
She told Bob and Annette Poff, chaplain coordinators for the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT), that the twister had thrown her in the air and out of her home. But “God just gently rested her down on the grass,” she said.
With her neighborhood—and community—torn to pieces, Beth welcomed the Poffs’ help. Annette drove her through a distribution line where Beth picked out basic household items. Afterwards, Annette grabbed her a cup of coffee at a free coffee station.
Beth, sipping her coffee inside the Mobile Ministry Center, commented how the drink gave her the first sense of normalcy she’d felt in days. Rejuvenated, Beth prayed for and encouraged a friend who was worried about incoming storms as the two talked on the phone.
Bob noticed how the love of Christ and some small acts of kindness helped change Beth’s countenance and outlook. Although he can’t solve tragedies, Bob ministers to people by listening to their stories, showing genuine care and concern, and offering to pray with them.
“You listen to their story. All of them want to talk,” he said.
A team of eight crisis-trained chaplains spent the past week listening to residents’ stories and praying with them. Additional teams of BG-RRT chaplains are serving in Amory, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas; Covington, Tennessee; and Sullivan Country, Indiana; after multiple storm systems caused destruction.
Disaster Opened Their Eyes to a Deeper Need
Another Rolling Fork resident, Mary,* who’s lived in the area for 75 years, came to the Mobile Ministry Center seeking help from Samaritan’s Purse, a disaster relief organization that partners with the BG-RRT, because she lost her mobile home in the storm.
Instead of just pointing her to paperwork, a chaplain started a deeper conversation with Mary that would change her life. The chaplain asked Mary whether she thought she’d go to Heaven, and Mary said she would because she’s a good person and attends church.
>>What does it mean to be saved?
Those are positive things, the chaplain said, but aren’t enough to spend eternity in Heaven. The chaplain explained how sin keeps us apart from God and how it’s only through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that our sins are covered, creating a bridge between us and God when we put our faith in Christ.
Mary had several questions, which the chaplain patiently answered. She soon understood what it means to have a relationship with God and said she wanted to ask Jesus Christ to be part of her life right then. She prayed to surrender her life to Christ and received a Bible from chaplains.
A husband and wife made the same decision to trust God after their home was severely damaged by the twister. They were inside when it hit, and their relatives next door died in the storm.
As Samaritan’s Purse volunteers cleaned up debris where their home once stood, the couple shared with chaplains that they believed in God but didn’t really understand what it means to be saved. Chaplains shared their own journey to faith and walked the couple through a “Steps to Peace With God” pamphlet that explains salvation through Jesus Christ. The couple said they wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
After chaplains prayed with them, tears were rolling down the husband’s face.
“They were shook up,” Bob said. “They realized they needed Christ in their lives.”
*Names changed for privacy.
