Oklahoma City Tornado
\Wednesday June 5, 2013
Dear Friends,
ORH has a new friend in the work, Pastor Alan Jenkins from
Columbia Road Baptist Church in Cleveland, OH area. Pastor Jenkins and his
church have opened a warehouse to gather materials for disaster relief. I was
just at their church and visited their 13,000 sq ft warehouse facility. What a
vision to take the gospel. We are so honored to work with such servants of the
Lord.
Pastor Jenkins wrote the following from Oklahoma City
Oklahoma where they delivered a truck load of materials to help the needs of
those in the hurricane. Pastor Jenkins went to Pastor Ron Lindsey of Suburban
Baptist Church one of the churches that ORH has attempted to help as they
minister to their community.
“Hi bro Milton, We
brought a truckload down here in Oklahoma this morning and I am preaching for
Bro Lindsey tomorrow. A wonderful Man of God. Amazing the devastation here. God
bless! Alan Jenkins”
Pastor Jenkins wrote further.
“Dear Bro Milton,
I just returned from preaching and
observing the work that Bro Lindsey and the Suburban Baptist Church is doing in
disaster relief for their community.
I was glad
to see that they are first concerned about those in their church members which
were affected; I believe 7 families in their church. They have done very well
in making sure these families have been loved on and cared for.
They have also done a marvelous job
in opening up their church as center for items available to those affected by
the tornados.
Any help that could be given to further help
this church and people would be appreciated as these 7 families have a hard
road ahead. Many of the people who were hit by these tornadoes were in apt
dwellings and lost everything. I have seen a lot but not anything like this
devastation. God bless and thank you for your help. Pastor Alan C. Jenkins”
Pastor Lindsay has taken his gymnasium and turned it into a
crisis distribution center. People are constantly coming from the community to
get help. They hope to keep this center open through June. He has been promised
several more loads of supplies.
Pastor Lindsey writes the following.
“Bro Jan Milton,
This
past Friday night was pretty scary here in Moore, but even though many people
lost their life (the number is still growing), it could have been much worse.
Tornados were scattered once again all over Moore and Oklahoma City. Several
tornadoes touched down here, but were not nearly as damaging as the one on May
20th. They knocked out power at the church and at my house this time. The power
came back on at the church late Saturday night so we were able to have a normal
Sunday service.
Our
donation center and distribution center in our church gym is getting more
organized as each day goes by. I never asked to have a ministry like this, but
it seems pretty clear to me that is exactly what our Lord is calling us to
do...so we are gladly doing it. I just got through reading through the forms
and stories that we have people fill out when they come in to get supplies. As
I lift each one up in prayer, there are many of them that are really
heartbreaking. Please pray that our church will be able to follow up with them
in helping them and leading them to Christ during this difficult time in their
life.
So
far we have given out about $17,000.00 to members of our church who had homes
destroyed and lost all of their possessions. We are praying that we can give
more...as there are still many needs. The deacons and I, along with my
associate are asking the Lord to use us as His hands, feet, voice and heart to
minister to His sheep. The people of our church who still have homes, power and
jobs are bending low and humbly serving their fellow brothers and sisters in
Christ.
Our
church normally has an attendance of 115-120 on Sunday morning. This last
Sunday we had 103. Seven of our families literally lost all of their
possessions except the clothes on their back. Four or five more lost smaller
amounts. The tornado was so big it affected almost all of our families in one
degree or another. We are mostly focusing on trying to help the seven hardest
hit families in a large way because they have the biggest needs. Most DID have
insurance. That helps. Not all insurance is the same however. Some have high
deductibles. We are trying to help with that. Some have insufficient insurance
on their contents. We are trying to help with that. Some, after having to move
into apartments have had a car stolen and their apartment broken into
twice...just in the last 2 weeks since the tornado. That is crazy! But that
family will not take any money or help... insisting that they are fine and all
they need is prayer. We are trying to cover them up in it. Some are older
(seniors) folks who have needed physical help dragging damaged fences to the
front of the curb to have the city haul off. Some had cars destroyed that were
only insured with liability. We are trying to help them. One lady lost her job.
She runs a day care in her home and barely made it out in time with her babies
10 minutes before the storm hit and demolished her house. She now has no
income. We have helped her with the next two months of lost income since she
lost everything...plus her job. We rented some heavy equipment and have had a
couple of volunteers that came up from North Carolina run it. They are cleaning
off our church members property now as I write. There are many other stories that
I don't have time to tell right now, and each one is different so we are just
trying to handle each one separately. The Lord is showing us His grace and
mercy every single day. He has never failed us. What we need most is...the
Lord. He is really all we need. Of course, I covet your prayers that I will not
fail the Lord now, when our people need Him the most. If the Lord leads you to
help financially, we will use it for His glory.
Thank
you so much for your support and prayers during these difficult times. May the
Lord be praised. Pastor Ron Lindsey”
I hope you will not
forget these people. There is so much left to do. Help us to help.
If you wish to donate by check, please, send the check to
Operation Renewed Hope, PO Box 43242, Fayetteville, NC 28309. Mark the check
for "Domestic Relief."
Please help us to help the churches and people of this
crisis. Many are hearing the gospel through the churches.
