Volunteers at New Salem Baptist Church, Limestone, prepare for distribution a wide variety of donations the church has received and that will go out to the surrounding area where flooding from the Nolichucky River caused extensive damage. New Salem is one of many local churches in upper Northeast Tennessee that have rallied to serving their communities and other churches that were destroyed by flooding. — Photos by Chris Turner

LIMESTONE — Craig Ponder’s first impression of the ATV four-wheeler gang congregating in the church’s parking lot was not good. 

“I thought they were a bunch of tourists coming to check out the flood damage caused by Hurricane Helene,” he said. “I was wrong, and I’ve since apologized. They were people coming to check on family members and friends cut off and stranded on the other side of the river.”  [Read more…]

Hankal

MOUNTAIN CITY — Long before disaster relief volunteers could even get into Mountain City, pastor David Hankal and members of Roan Creek Baptist Church were out in the community checking on neighbors and fellow church members. 

“We took meals provided by the Salvation Army to people who could not get out and did welfare checks, among a variety of things” said Roan Creek pastor David Hankal. 

“Our church people are phenomenal,” Hankal said. “They see a need and start ministering,” he said.  [Read more…]

Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB, speaks to attendees at the Arise and Build meeting on Oct. 18.

GREENEVILLE — Approximately 50 pastors, directors of missions and other church leaders gathered with community and business leaders Oct. 18 for the initial meeting of Operation Arise and Build, based on Nehemiah 2:18.

The meeting was sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and hosted by First Baptist Church, Greeneville. Attendees also included Monty Burks and Suzanna Hendricks of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Division and Carol Agee, partnership marketing/community relations specialist for Dollywood Parks and Resorts.

“Operation Arise and Build will take unprecedented commitment, cooperation  and resources,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of TBMB. [Read more…]

William Burton, new churches team leader and ethnic church planting specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, far left, stands with a group of Hispanic men who were aided by a ministry presented by Roan Creek Baptist Church.

MOUNTAIN CITY — As Roan Creek began to flood in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, 15 Mexican men who were living alongside the creek had to vacate their homes and find higher ground.

They gathered underneath a tree in front of the house of a member of a nearby Roan Creek Baptist Church who saw them and wanted to help. The member called her pastor, David Hankal, and asked if she could take them to the church’s fellowship hall.

Hankal immediately said yes and the church member (who did not want to be identified) and her son and daughter-in-law began ministering to the men.

They led them to the fellowship hall which housed a kitchen. Though there was no electricity, there was food in the refrigerator and freezer that needed to be used before it ruined, Hankal said. [Read more…]

Tennessee Baptist Convention president Jay Hardwick points to where the water reached the basement of Riverview Baptist Church in Newport. The church received extensive water damage.

NEWPORT — Tennessee Baptist Convention president Jay Hardwick witnessed the devastation Hurricane Helene caused throughout East Tennessee, first through news and social media channels, and then up close and personal.

“The videos and pictures don’t do it justice,” he said. “Helene ripped through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and here in East Tennessee, leaving a path of destruction we have never seen in our lifetimes, but Tennessee Baptists are on the ground serving and meeting needs.”

Hardwick spent the day traveling through heavily impacted areas in and around Newport, visiting Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers and homeowners whose houses were being gutted due to water damage caused by the flooding of the Pigeon River. The river far exceeded its banks when Helene dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on the Southern Appalachian region. Rising water ripped through neighborhoods and flooded downtown Newport at a level locals say they’ve never seen before. [Read more…]

Bill Keen, of Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church, Knoxville, and Larry Russell, of Lyons Creek Baptist Church, Strawberry Plains, discard materials stripped from a house in Newport. Knox County Association of Baptists disaster relief teams took several houses down to wall studs to enable water damage to dry and to prepare houses for mold eradication.

NEWPORT — Johnny and Sharon Hill heard neighbors shouting and looked outside to see what the commotion was about. It was water rising — and quickly — from the Pigeon River overflowing its banks more than 200 yards away and charging toward the Hills’ neighborhood.

“We’ve lived here 29 years and I’ve never seen it like that,” Johnny said. “Nowhere close. By the time we grabbed a few things, the water was gushing in.”

The Hills made it to safety, but just barely. The water level inside their house was about five feet by the time the river finally crested. Neighbors between them and the river had to be rescued from the roofs of their houses. One was airlifted by helicopter from the roof of a wooden shed that lodged itself against a power pole. [Read more…]