No one would have wished for the record-breaking blizzard that hit Buffalo in October, but from an evangelistic standpoint, many are saying it has provided more opportunities to share Christ than at any time since 1988’s Billy Graham crusade.
Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers from Kentucky clear tree limbs and debris following mid-October’s unprecedented snowstorm that dumped 24 inches of snow in 12 hours on the Buffalo, N.Y., area.“The citizens of Buffalo and the surrounding area now know who the Southern Baptists with the yellow shirts and yellow caps are,” said Terry Henderson, disaster relief associate with the North American Mission Board.
The heavy, wet snow -24 inches during a 12-hour period – blanketed Buffalo Oct. 12-13. Because the storm hit so unseasonably early – when colorful autumn leaves were still on the trees – the combination of leaves and heavy snow caused trees to fall across homes, power lines and streets in record numbers. An estimated 20,000 trees were lost.
Following downed trees and limbs came a massive electricity blackout, with some 400,000 homes and businesses without power for seven days.
When the Baptist Convention of New York’s disaster relief director, Chuck Stebbins, asked NAMB’s disaster relief group for assistance, Henderson activated NAMB’s disaster operations center and mobilized chainsaw teams.
More than 1,200 disaster relief volunteers from 20 Baptist state associations have worked in shifts in Buffalo since the storm hit, Gerald Peters, commander of NAMB’s national Incident Command Service, reported.
“Almost a month later, we still have 105 volunteers working, most as chainsaw teams,” said Peters, a longtime disaster relief volunteer and Baptist preacher from Park Hill, Okla.
The chainsaw crews have completed 542 tree-removal jobs for local citizens, Peters said, along with serving 3,440 meals and providing nearly 1,200 showers. The ICS office received 1,560 requests for assistance with downed trees.
“More importantly, our chainsaw crews have presented the gospel 236 times, resulting in 14 decisions for Christ,” Peters said. The crews also have distributed hundreds of free Bibles and tracts.
“This has been the greatest thing for the cause of Christ and evangelism in this area over the last 13 years I’ve been here,” Flannery said. “We Southern Baptists have been under the radar as far as helping the Buffalo community. While we never pray for a disaster, we have prayed for an opportunity to show what Southern Baptists are about and what we can do. This has been a tangible way to do that.”
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