Texas Baptists churches mobilize congregations to aid Kerr County flood relief efforts

Texas Baptists churches in Kerrville and surrounding areas are mobilizing their members to aid in relief efforts after the flooding of the Guadalupe River on July 4. 

Showing the love of God through the ‘ministry of presence’

Utilizing their Mission Center as a headquarters for their response efforts, First Baptist Church Marble Falls has been “mobilized in a number of different ways since [the flooding] took place” including leading “the entire mud out process for the entire Burnet County and Llano County areas,” mobilizing a network of local pastoral teams to act as chaplains as volunteers serve families and offer counseling services. 

FBC Marble Falls Family Discipleship Pastor Tucker Edwards said each morning, volunteers come to the Mission Center to receive training for the mud out process, as well as emotional and spiritual training to offer support while serving families.  

On the evening of July 9, the church also hosted a “community night of prayer and worship” with over 300 hundred in attendance.  

“We had a lot of our congregation and people that I'd never seen before fill up a lot of our worship space, and our staff put together a full hour of prayer and worship,” said Edwards. “We set up our entire counseling team to be [in the] back [of the service], and there were people that were counseled throughout [the night].” 

Edwards said his wife, a practicing counselor and FBC Marble Falls counseling team lead, mobilized their team to receive people for counseling as the need arises. 

“We're deeply invested in the community, and the community is deeply invested in us, and so our heart is to always respond not only with the immediate needs… but we realize that the greatest need, even beyond that, is the ministry of presence and to be with the people and to show them the love of God in the midst of the tragedy and heartache that they're going through,” said Edwards. 

A church available to ‘love on people’

Alamo Heights Baptist Church in Alamo Heights, Texas, opened up their building on the mornings of July 7 and 8 to provide counseling for the community. Alamo Heights and Northside ISD counselors provided services, as well as the Alamo Heights Fire and Police Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team. 

“It's a team effort; knowing that this would just be kind of an immediate response, but it would also provide an opportunity to build relationships,” said Bobby Contreras, pastor of Alamo Heights Baptist Church. “Having our doors open to counseling will be something we'll continue to do. Especially once the search [effort] comes to a halt.” 

Contreras said providing counseling was “the best way that we knew how to respond immediately” as he started receiving text messages from community members who were affected by the flooding of the Guadalupe River. 

“We knew we weren't going to be a part of the immediate search efforts, but our goal has always been to, whether it's on campus or within our home here in the Alamo Heights community, that we just want to be readily available to just love on people…. [and in this case] to be in communication and connecting with people that we knew who were in that area, affected,” said Contreras. 

‘Coalition of churches’ prepared to meet long-term needs with compassion

First Baptist Church Boerne is responding by mobilizing members to “aid in search and rescue efforts in Center Point with the volunteer fire department.” 

“By the end of the day Saturday, we had set up a real simple volunteer portal for our church. We started telling people how we could help. We mobilized about 250 people Sunday to go out to the river banks and aid in the search and recovery efforts,” said Chad Mason, Missions & Evangelism Pastor at FBC Boerne. “At the end of [Sunday], they said that they had received an overwhelming number of volunteers… somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000.”

Even after military resources became available and local authorities “asked for no more volunteers,” Mason said the calls were still pouring in from other churches and organizations “from around the country” wanting to volunteer, “so we've been working really hard to try to build a coalition of churches here in Kendall County that are responding.” 

“A lot of the conversations right now are [surrounding] training and developing the right people so that as volunteer opportunities emerge in the coming weeks, we'll be prepared to meet and to work in the long-term recovery effort,” said Mason. 

First Baptist Church Center Point is also partnering with the volunteer fire department by volunteering with the “Volunteer Fire Department Donation Center.” 

FBC Center Point Pastor Mike Watson said he and his church members are helping unload, organize and distribute donated supplies to families in need. He said the supplies donated include toiletries, canned goods, gasoline, tools and even “unusual donations” such as ropes requested by the fire department. 

Watson said that as his church has stepped up to volunteer in relief efforts, his eyes have been opened to how compassionate his congregation really is. 

“We're a small church, but I found out through this [that] we're a compassionate church, and I think sometimes hard things happen so that we know just how compassionate we are,” said Watson. “It's an opportunity to give grace to others… [and] speaks [to] people who will go out of their way to help total strangers.” 

Supporting the community financially

Matt Travis, pastor of Comfort Baptist Church in Comfort, Texas, said, “God is using [our church] in a support role.” 

Travis said while helping coordinate “incoming support” for relief efforts, the church has hosted “a church from San Antonio that set up in our parking lot to just provide barbecue” for the community. He said providing meals will continue as they are hosting a food truck “from another state in order to serve breakfast each day” next week. 

Comfort Baptist Church has also found ways to support people financially by providing Visa gift cards to those who don’t want to disclose specific needs, and raising funds to provide scholarships for people needing equipment rental for area cleanup. Travis said this has “open[ed] the door for us to be able to share the gospel with people.” 

“Baptists all over have been very faithful. Our phone has been ringing off the hook with people saying, ‘We want to help. How can we help? What is the best way for us to help?’” said Travis. “So, we are very thankful for Texas Baptists, and Baptists from all over the U.S., who have stepped in to help.” 

Texas Baptists Counseling Services Director Olga Harris said she is “looking for ways [for Texas Baptists Counseling Services] to lock arms with our local churches to provide grief support” for those affected.

Harris’ department offers counseling resources for Texas Baptists ministers and their families. Services include no-cost consultations and referrals, and financial assistance based on certain criteria is available. 

To initiate a request, visit txb.org/counseling or contact Olga Harris at counselingservices[at]texasbaptists.org.  

Pastors are asking for continued prayer for: 

• Families who have lost loved ones
• God’s comfort and peace to surround families as other camp ministries take place
• First responders, as they perform search and rescue efforts, are affected mentally and emotionally by the tragedy
• Kerrville and surrounding communities to come to know the Lord and look for their help to come from him (Psalm 121) through this tragedy

More information about the Texans On Mission response may be found at  texansonmission.org/hillcountry.