Bill Hightower of Fairplay received one of five national Distinguished Service Awards for disaster relief work throughout his career during the National Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Roundtable in Shocco Springs, Ala.
Bill Hightower, left, receives a national disaster relief award from Terry Henderson of the North American Mission Board.In a statement to The Baptist Courier, Cliff Satterwhite, director of disaster relief for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, called the retired director of missions for Charleston Baptist Association “one of our best leaders in disaster relief work.”
Noting that even in retirement Hightower has led numerous churches in local disaster relief projects, Satterwhite stated, “Bill has been a valuable member of the disaster relief task force and has trained hundreds to help others in Jesus’ name.”
“His loving and humble demeanor shows the example of servanthood for others to follow,” said Terry Henderson, disaster relief director for the North American Mission Board.
“Bill has shown ‘Christ in Crisis’ by his loving way of dealing with people in a time of disaster. He has a pastor’s heart, finding good in every situation and is a calming force in a stressful situation,” Henderson added.
Hightower, a past recipient of the Choice Watson Award, South Carolina Baptists’ highest disaster relief award, first became involved with disaster relief efforts while helping Charleston Association put together the second feeding unit for South Carolina Baptists’ disaster relief ministry. Even before the unit was complete, it was called into action after Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992.
For more than 17 years, Hightower has served as director of the SCBC disaster relief task force, except for an eight-month stint when he and his wife Jane served in Romania, coordinating the state convention’s partnership work with Baptists there.
In addition to coordinating a cooking unit at Ground Zero in New York City, he and his wife served nearly three months in Pascagoula, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina, coordinating all disaster relief teams from South Carolina working in the area. He and Jane routinely work in the SCBC’s off-site command post at the Convention Building in Columbia, supervising in crises management and the deployment of volunteers after tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters.
As one of only about 20 “white hats” across the state, Hightower has a key role in training team leaders, known as “blue hats,” in mass cooking operations.
“Disaster relief is a place where many people can serve,” Hightower said. “It’s a mission opportunity to serve Jesus Christ, and at the same time meet human needs.
“We’re putting into action the commission of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he explained. “We are able to be hands-on in disaster relief work, going from feeding people, to cleaning their houses, to putting their houses back together, to sharing Christ with them,” said Hightower, who was a pastor in Georgia for 29 years. Since retirement seven years ago, he has held five interim pastorates, including his current congregation, Pope Drive Baptist in Anderson.
Approximately 420 participants at the April 23-26 conference celebrated the 40th anniversary of disaster relief in the Southern Baptist Convention, heard the North American Mission Board’s report on relief efforts during 2006, and attended some of the 30-plus workshops offered on topics ranging from communications, food preparation and chaplaincy to water filtration, childcare and crises evangelism.
Nationwide, Southern Baptists responded to 156 disasters during 2006, reported Henderson. More than 41,000 volunteers were deployed; 631,000 meals prepared; nearly 6,200 buildings repaired; more than 4,300 yards cleaned up; 26,000 gallons of water purified; and almost 121,000 showers provided.
More than 19,000 new disaster relief workers were trained by 36 state conventions, bringing the total of trained volunteers available for future disasters to a record 74,000. Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist disaster relief fleet has surpassed 950 units nationwide, mostly recovery and feeding units, Henderson added.
Editor’s Note: Mickey Noah of the North American Mission Board’s communications division contributed to this story.