Gospel Seeds Planted as Texan Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Teams Work in Flooded Missouri

The SBTC DR recovery team of (from left) Jean Ducharme, Paul Wood, James Palmer, David McClung, and Tom Mathis served flood survivors near St. Louis, Mo., in mid-August. Submitted photo

ST. LOUIS (BP) – Rainfall of historic proportions pummeled Missouri and Illinois along the Interstate 70 and 64 corridors on July 26, when an estimated 11 inches of rain fell in an eight-hour period, according to the National Weather Service.

On Aug. 9, the Biden administration approved Missouri’s major disaster declaration request, almost two weeks following flash flooding that swamped the St. Louis metropolitan area, damaging more than 750 homes and 130 businesses, news sources reported.

When the federal disaster declaration unlocked federal funds to assist those affected, disaster relief volunteers from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and other Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams had already arrived in the Show Me State, partnering with Missouri Baptist DR to meet the needs of survivors.

“At one point, there were about 120 SBDR and other disaster relief workers onsite,” said James Palmer, SBTC DR unit leader and bi-vocational pastor of Eastside Baptist Church of Rusk. Palmer, with a team of five SBTC DR mud-out and chainsaw volunteers from the Tyler area all the way south to Del Rio, arrived in Bridgeton, a suburb of St. Louis, on Aug. 7. They were housed at the Fee Fee Baptist Church in Bridgeton and began work on Aug. 8 before departing for home on Aug. 13.

The five-man team tackled four massive jobs, said Palmer, who also works part-time for the bridge and road department of Cherokee County.

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Source: Baptist Press