Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB)

KNCSB teams serve in ‘Ike’ zone

This home was only one of the hundreds of homes in Bridge City, Texas, that flooded during Hurricane Ike. KNCSB disaster-relief rebuilding teams are now serving in southeast Texas. KNCSB is working with Nehemiah’s Vision, a ministry of First Baptist Church, Vidor, which is 10 miles east of Beaumont.

KNCSB’s rebuilding efforts are moving into high gear in southeast Texas, where Hurricane Ike struck a hard blow in mid-September 2008.

The hurricane quickly faded from the headlines as attention turned to the unfolding meltdown on Wall Street.

KNCSB is working with Nehemiah’s Vision, a ministry of First Baptist Church, Vidor, Texas, 10 miles east of Beaumont. Elijah “Touch” Touchton, an electrical contractor from Pittsburg, Kan., is team leader for KNCSB rebuilding efforts in the Ike zone.

This effort comes after nearly a year of work in Greensburg, Kan., site of the horrific tornado in early May 2007. KNCSB rebuilding teams also worked in several small communities in Kansas that flooded during the summer of 2007.

In 2006 and 2007, KNCSB sent 14 rebuilding teams to New Orleans, working through the partnership with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Under Touchton’s leadership, the KNCSB teams concentrate on electrical wiring.

The first KNCSB team went to the Hurricane Ike zone in February 2009. This team of 49 people wired the 10,000-square-foot multipurpose building at Liberty Baptist Church, Bridge City, Texas.

Bridge City sits on the west bank of Cow Bayou adjacent to Sabine Lake and the Neches River, the city’s Web site says. The 78-square-mile Sabine Lake is a saltwater lake that opens into the Gulf of Mexico. Only a few of the homes in the community of 8,650 people did not flood.

Liberty Baptist’s main building and its new multipurpose building took on about 3 1/2 feet of floodwater during the hurricane. Church members were constructing the new building as funds became available. So the new building had only been framed on the inside when the hurricane struck.

The work performed by the February team allowed Liberty Baptist to begin holding services in the multipurpose building while its main facility is being rebuilt.

KNCSB’s March and April teams did electrical wiring in a 10,000-square-foot building in Vidor, Texas. The former nursing home is being remodeled to serve as a volunteer center. It was abandoned after Hurricane Rita struck in late September 2005.

Two student groups joined the March team. One group came from Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan., and the other group came from Mississippi.

Touchton praised the students for their enthusiasm, hard work and eagerness to learn.

KNCSB teams will be serving in the Ike zone through December 2009. The dates are:

• May 17-23
 
• June 14-20
 
• July 5-11
 
• Aug. 16-22
 
• Sept. 13-19
 
• Oct. 18-24
 
• Nov. 8-14
 
• Dec. 6-12

There is place for everyone on the teams, regardless of skill level. However, there is a continuing need for skilled workers to serve as team leaders. For more information, contact Touchton at 620.230.9962 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)