I want to thank you for what you’ve done to help people whose homes and businesses have flooded.

We all know how widespread this is and how many people have suffered because of it.

Here are some things you need to know.

In addition to the 60,000 homes flooded, 72 Southern Baptist churches and 57 pastor homes in this area of Louisiana flooded as well.

The response by faith based groups has been astounding.

Southern Baptists, through the North American Mission Board, have been on the ground and are committed to be here for the long haul. So far Baptists from 21 states are in Louisiana with 48 officially trained mud out teams at work “gutting” houses. In addition, there are “probably twice that many teams which are not officially trained at work across the region.”

Southern Baptists are the third largest relief agency in the country (after the Red Cross and the Salvation Army). The wonderful thing about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is that it is volunteer labor without any overhead. When you and I give to the various offerings to meet the needs of people all of the money goes to people needing assistance.

I am thankful to be associated with that kind of group.

I listened this week in a pastor’s meeting to a representative of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. He described “a miracle in spontaneous response.” He said we are further along after two weeks than most areas are after eight weeks.

I credit “people helping people” and the churches of the area responding so rapidly. David Hankins, Executive Director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, noted that “Churches are the best Disaster Relief organizations in existence.”

Thank you for volunteering across the region to help people “gut out” (also known as “mud out”) their homes. Thank you also for the almost $30,000 you gave last weekend for relief help. We will use that money and additional funds that will be given to meet as many needs as possible.