At a gathering in late January of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders from several state Baptist conventions, three South Carolina volunteers were recognized for their service.

Receiving awards were Steve Shumake of Grace Baptist Church in Sumter, Avery Fox of Clinton First Baptist Church, and Wil Bradham of the Southeast Baptist Association.

Fox and Bradham were awarded distinguished service awards for 2015 for specific performances during disasters.

When last fall’s flooding occurred, the Georgetown area where Bradham serves as director of missions for the Southeast Baptist Association was affected. He immediately went into action as he delivered cases of water to first responders, made contact with area disaster response partners, and arranged for a local church to be the disaster relief command post/housing site — all on the first day of the flood incident.

A 10-year disaster relief volunteer, Bradham served as incident commander to get the Georgetown command post up and running and continued to be involved throughout the response. His passion for seeing others come to know Christ was evident as he was involved in meeting both physical and spiritual needs.

Fox has also been a disaster relief volunteer for 10 years. During the floods, he served as a unit leader and on-the-job trainer for a number of collegiate groups that came to help in the flood recovery efforts.

Fox’s heart for serving Christ in crisis is exhibited by his willingness to drop everything and do anything when needed, no matter how big or small. On several occasions Avery represented Southern Baptists on the governor’s “Team South Carolina” events at disaster resource centers across the state. He also worked with local and city officials when needed.

Steve Shumake was awarded the Phillips Award, which recognizes individuals for a series of services and/or specific performances during disasters.

Shumake has been effective in enlisting volunteers for disaster relief as well as providing leadership for a positive experience for those involved, according to SCBC Disaster Relief coordinator Randy Creamer.

During the floods, Shumake was on site at the command center at Grace Baptist Church, serving as site coordinator and any other role needed during the seven-week response. Leaders from other states whose teams served out of that command center would agree that Steve helped to make their work more effective, Creamer said.