Participants waited patiently to have their photo taken for a special “apprentice” DR volunteer ID.A total of 230 people attended the first-ever South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief Apprentice Response Readiness training event Saturday, Jan. 28, at Brookwood Church in Simpsonville.
Five volunteers from the Lakelands feeding unit, led by “blue hat” Dwight Herring, served lunch to the more than 200 disaster relief training attendees.The training offered basic overviews of four main DR ministries – chainsaw, mud-out, child care, and COPE (Christian Outreach to People Evacuated) – that are of special interest to younger volunteers who might serve on local response teams.
Disaster relief is a South Carolina Baptist ministry that partners with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and national and state government agencies in times of local or regional disaster. SCBDR abides by national security rules and regulations. Volunteers are trained to serve when disaster strikes. Teams are on the road at a moment’s notice, sometimes serving for days on end, and are ready to share God’s love with those wrecked by the damage.
Longtime director Cliff Satterwhite said 2011 marked the busiest year ever for SCBDR response teams, which went on 38 deployments, including those to Japan, and served when natural disasters hit 11 counties across the state. The ministry is looking to recruit younger volunteers who are able to serve on shorter, more local trips, he said.
“This ministry niche is fulfilling to the 40-and-younger generation, which is action-oriented,” Satterwhite said. “The concept of disaster relief is to talk with the victims while we serve, ask them about their story. Then when they ask us about our story – why we are there – we segue into [God’s] story.”
“Disaster relief is unique to other types of missions,” said Brookwood Church member and certified volunteer Drake Bagwell. “First, you train, and then you wait to serve when a disaster strikes. You reach a person in their time of need, which is when they can be most open to God.”
Bagwell said he has been promoting the disaster relief ministry at Brookwood Church and had the idea for his church to host the special training. “I love going and serving, but I am also passionate about getting people to go,” he said.
Brittney Tatum and Katelyn Newton, older youths at Brookwood Church, heard about the training and decided to attend so they could learn more about how to serve in child care through disaster relief. “I can imagine children in this situation don’t know what’s happening around them, and I’d love to help them understand and feel safer. The parents need the help, too,” Newton said.
Drake Bagwell, DR volunteer and member of Brookwood Church, Simpsonville, is passionate about disaster relief ministry.Another Brookwood Church member, Mike Ward, brought his son Mac to the training to expose him to the needs that others have and because his own family survived a natural disaster. “In eastern North Carolina, we lived through terrible flooding, so I want to give back and help others out through something like this,” he said. Ward’s employer sets up communications infrastructures and mobile command centers in situations such as natural disasters. He described his company as “pro-volunteerism” and thought they would have no problem with him being part of a future disaster relief team on short-term trips.
The training event also provided the opportunity for churches like Crossroads Community Church in Summerville to get a baseline understanding of disaster relief ministry and learn how to plug in. Crossroads pastor Peppy DuTart said his congregation is interested in disaster relief as a way to minister through natural disasters. They are considering how to serve through mobile units and as a future training site.
Crossroads member Doug Cohen owns a trucking company and attended to connect with the disaster relief network and learn more about mud-out and chainsaw training. “I want to be used in meeting needs,” he said.
Five volunteers from the Lakelands Association feeding unit, led by “blue hat” Dwight Herring, a member of Temple Church, served lunch to the attendees, literally giving them a taste of what happens in the field. Disaster relief has been a part of Herring’s life since 2005 and inspired him to go on five international relief trips. “My first trip was to Sri Lanka, and I felt such a connection to those people in the midst of the devastation and hurt. My wife and I have lost a son, and I could minister to the people there who had experienced loss and tell them there is hope,” Herring said.
Jud Lusk is an associate pastor at Rocky Knoll Church in Walhalla and brought some older youth and college students to the event because his church is working to develop more extensive local mission opportunities. “The two- to three-day trips are a good portal to get people doing missions. If they get involved, they will grow, and some find other ways to serve through that,” he said.
Amanda Ezell is a college student who has studied abroad in Chile and worked with International Mission Board missionaries there on the weekends. She’s a member of Rocky Knoll Church and went to the training because she’s interested in the international work SCBDR is involved in. “I’d like to go to the March training session to learn more about international work and crisis intervention,” she said.
The one-day apprentice training was intentionally scheduled ahead of the annual South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief spring training to introduce participants to disaster relief ministry and offer partial credits toward further certification. Participants must attend another state training session to earn full credit and become certified.
For more information, go to www.scbaptist.org/dr, or contact Gwen Eargle at 803-227-6149, 800-723-7242 (ext. 5400), or by email at gweneargle@scbaptist.org. – SCBC