By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor WESTLAKE – When asked about Hurricane Rita, the floodgates of memories burst open for 71-year-old Joanna Robinson of Westlake. Ten years ago, she and her husband Jack, members of Bellview Baptist Church in Westlake, spent 2 ½ weeks feeding, helping and ministering to Southern Baptist disaster relief workers, members of the Coast Guard and people working at the nearby water plant. “It sometimes seems like it was just yesterday,” recalls Robinson, who had a kidney transplant six years earlier. “It was a very taxing time but a very meaningful time because God worked through us for His glory.” Jack Robinson, who passed away almost three years ago, was a member of the Carey Association disaster relief chainsaw crew. He had been home only two days after a strenuous stint of disaster relief work in the Covington area when he and Joanna were forced to evacuate as Rita approached southwest Louisiana. Climbing into their 38-foot-motor home, the couple traveled 235 miles west to College Station, Texas where they rode out the storm but were back in Westlake at 6 Saturday evening to survey the damage Rita had left in her wake. The storm had laid waste to their town. They, like … [Read more...]

  By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer VERMILION PARISH – The day following the landfall of Hurricane Rita, a bedridden Pres Riley fielded a call from a church member asking a common question of many affected by the historic storm. “The water’s over my doorstep. What should I do?” Riley, in the hospital after receiving several brown recluse spider bites, responded with advice to get out of her home and seek shelter at First Baptist Church in Abbeville where he served as pastor. For a couple of weeks, Riley ministered from his hospital room to many others affected by the storm. While he was keeping in touch with his church members, those in the community and pastors offering prayers and support from throughout the US, First Abbeville was ministering by opening up its family life center to groups from all denominational lines which came to minister in a variety of ways to the community. The only states that did not send a team to stay at the church were Alaska and Maine. With the exception of one week, the church’s family life center hosted groups for the next two years. The church itself suffered roof damage but the groups coming in helped repair the damages. Throughout this time, the congregation … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer DRY CREEK – When he was first making the trip to Dry Creek Baptist Camp days after riding out Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Omar Montalvo thought his purpose was only to escape the aftermath of the storm. What he found in the end was a saving relationship in Christ for his mother and sister and a place he now considers a second home. “To me, Dry Creek is a very special place,” he said. “Every time I go there I feel joy just to know that my mom and sister received Christ there. When I go there and I see (camp director) Todd Burnaman I always tell him this is home for me because they also help us during the days we stayed there.” Four months before Katrina made landfall, Montalvo was battling depression and thinking of suicide when he found Christ at Horeb Baptist Church in Gretna. Katrina severely damaged his family’s home, leaving them with only a 100 dollar bill and little means of finding food. Eight days later, Montalvo reached his music minister at Horeb, who informed him others from the church were staying at Dry Creek. Miraculously, someone from the congregation drove to New Orleans and picked up Montalvo, his mother and sister to take them to Dry Creek. The … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor WESTLAKE – For the newly constituted chainsaw unit, it was baptism by storm. In September of 2005, the unit, which was only the third of its kind in Louisiana and hailed from the Carey Baptist Association, had been together for little over two months when Hurricane Katrina tore into southeast Louisiana. Louisiana Disaster Relief Director Loy Seal sent them to hard-hit Covington and Roberts, La., where they spent several weeks clearing a number of downed trees. They had just returned home when Hurricane Rita took aim at southwest Louisiana. “As I recall, we had only been home for several days when we were forced to evacuate because of Rita,” said Butch Guidry of Sulphur and a blue hat for Carey. “We went first to East Leesville [Baptist Church] but right before the storm hit decided to take our trailer and go to Auburn, Ala.” With his family safely out of harm’s way, Guidry then watched and waited. Twelve hours after Rita made landfall, he, two of his son-in-laws and a friend returned home to begin the arduous task of assessing the damage and cleaning up. “The devastation was bad,” Guidry recalled. “There were a lot of trees down on homes. The streets and roads were impassable. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer JOHNSON BAYOU – Father’s Day has arrived and the congregation of Johnson Bayou Baptist Church has gathered for a special homecoming service. Around 50 people, mostly current members of the church less than a mile from the Gulf Coast, are gathered at the original site of the church off Highway 82 in Cameron Parish to remember the past and celebrate the future. The past is filled with memories of a church building severely damaged by Hurricane Rita and then completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike three years later. The future is one of hope and plans to rebuild on the exact location where the two storms wreaked havoc on the church. “I don’t understand why the Lord did all of that for that building and a few years later another storm came in a washed it away,” said former pastor Les Fogleman, who preached the homecoming message on June 21. “But I know one thing. He has an army. His army can come together and do mighty things. That says they are not going to stop. They will keep on fighting. They have a community to reach. There’s no doubt they need to have a facility there.” Fogleman was pastor of the congregation when the storm made landfall between Johnson Bayou and Sabine … [Read more...]