JTC & Hail Storm

A couple of months ago when our pastoral staff conceived the idea of doing "Journey to the Cross," we thought of a lot of things.  The one thing that never crossed our mind was that a furious hail storm mutant tornado and hurricane would pound the area around our church campus.  Having lived in Fort Worth, our family survived one the worst hailstorms ever in 1995.  As our family chatted after dinner in our home this past Thursday night, we were grateful for the down pour of rain but never did we imagine that we would end up picking up broken glass and hail in our bedrooms.  Suddenly, we couldn't figure out if we were in Fort Worth or Sharyland!  What a crazy storm!


Our church facility sustained significant damage on Thursday night also.  Most of the north-facing windows in the main building, the Slayton and the West Ed building were busted.  Our offices had glass and hail scattered all over the place.  Our roof in the sanctuary was greatly affected.  We have leaking roofs in the main building, the gym, the West Ed and the Children's building.  We were without electricity in the Slayton/Gym until Saturday.  We have damaged AC units in the West Ed, Worship Center, and the Children's Building chiller was affected.  Our parking lots were flooded and there was debris all over our side walks and plaza.  How could we have Bible Fellowships and worship on Sunday, not to mention "Journey to the Cross."


While our staff assessed damages and as we tried to make decisions about Sunday, David De Los Santos, Ron Corbett and David Heflin mobilized volunteers to cover windows and to conduct a massive outdoor clean-up effort that involved over 60 people.  We are so grateful for that.  Some people had not recovered from the damage they sustained at home and they were already helping restore the Calvary campus to some normalcy.


In spite of the set backs, we decided to have the "Journey to the Cross" experience in an adapted format.  Our pastoral staff and our volunteers did a phenomenal job in mobilizing approximately 1000 people through stations that led them to reflect on Jesus' last week before his crucifixion.  The event was a success and we praise God for that.  It is a reminder that not all things have to be ideal for us to encounter God's presence in a meaningful way.  It is a reminder that when God's people come together with open hearts and  they join hands, we can overcome.


Interestingly, "Journey to the Cross" was an experience that reminded us of the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus.  It was a reminder that in the midst of the highest kind of suffering anyone has ever known, Jesus did not focus on self-pity but on self-giving.  He was willing to suffer because He loves us.  He was willing to sacrifice because that's the only way we could have life.  So in the aftermath of the storm, we can also avoid self-pity and allow Christ's love to compel us toward self-giving.  This is especially relevant as the community around our church property has suffered such loss.


Shortly after the storm, several entities were identifying the area around our church as "ground zero" for Thursday's storm.  Texas Baptist Men have asked to operate their Disaster Relief efforts from our campus and we have agreed.  We have established contact with the City of McAllen's Emergency Response personnel and with the Gulf Coast Red Cross.  We agreed to help gather information for them.  So today as a response to JTC, Rolando and I shared with our congregations that we had 100 (actually 102) blocks that we wanted to canvass, checking on people and identifying needs.  These needs will be screened.  Some may be met by Calvary, others by Texas Baptist Men and others by the Red Cross/City of McAllen.  We asked for 100 families that would each take one block and knock on a few doors checking on people and gathering information.  By the end of the Spanish service, 63 families had picked up block assignments.  One person came up to me while I sat in the Spanish service and brought me back her report!  That's a quick response!  Later, as I drove home I saw one of our families knocking on doors and checking on neighbors.  What a great Calvary family we have!


However, we still have 39 blocks to cover, so if you didn't get your assignment, please come by the church tomorrow and get one.  I want us to fulfill our commitment to the other entities.  The next step will be to respond to the needs of people in our community.


This afternoon, as I was eating lunch with my family, I received a call that someone had found a 90-year-old man who lives by himself, with broken windows, a flooded house and no food.  As I type this blog, we have some of our Calvary folks along with others boarding up their windows, vacuuming the carpet, and cleaning up this man's house.  That's selfless love in action.  That's Christ's love.  That's loving God and loving people.


If you are not able to physically get out and knock on doors in our community, perhaps you can volunteer to help sort our information so that we can forward it to the correct entity.  The team leaders for this are Pastor Rolando Aguirre and Elizabeth Zamora.  We can use the help as early as tomorrow.


(Some may ask, if we are doing this for our community, what are we doing for our own church members who were affected.  We have asked ABF leaders to check on their people and we have asked deacons to check on their assigned elderly folks.  If there's a need that ABFs or deacons can meet immediately, we encourage them to do so.  If they are needing further resources or help, ABF leaders and deacons are to channel their requests through the pastoral staff so that we can respond and/or connect them to the help they might need).


Thank you for all you do and all you mean to the cause of Christ!