Our Disaster Relief ministry allows us the opportunity to serve communities during times of crisis. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief meets immediate physical and spiritual needs while sharing the love of Christ. You can be the hands and feet of Jesus by loving those in life-altering situations.

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To participate in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ministries, volunteers must complete 4 hours of training in advance of service and have a criminal background check after completing training. After successful completion of these two items, a uniform and identification badge will be issued.

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Phillip and Jan Herring: Rwanda

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Jan and I are thankful to be a part of a church that takes the Great Commission seriously. Our time in Rwanda was fruitful and timely. Part of our purpose for going was to help the Great Joy Bible Church know of our continued financial support for their church plant and pastoral leadership in the coming year. We saw firsthand the fruit of their labor as a young church as they baptized 11 new members into the life of the church.

In addition to preaching and training church leaders in the capital city - Kigali, we invested time in training more than 120 pastors and church leaders in Gesini and Ruhengeri. The opportunities to train were focused on developing skills to strengthen relational disciple-making through local churches. All of this work was organized and coordinated by our missionaries, Josiah and Stephanie Luttrull. Josiah is here to provide theological education for helping pastors be equipped to plant new churches and pastor existing churches more effectively. You can join us in praying for Josiah and Stephanie, as they return for their stateside assignment from July 2023 to January 2024.

Bob Williams: Nepal

Why do we go to Nepal? 1) Nepal is in South Asia, 2) 25% of the world's population lives in South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and The Maldives), 3) South Asia is the least evangelized region of the world, 4) Nepalese believers can travel freely among the countries of South Asia, while the travel of believers from other regions of the world are restricted, 5) through the Nepalese believers, the people of the other countries of South Asia can be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. First Baptist Norfolk mission teams have gone to Nepal several times to undertake earthquake recovery, young adult discipleship training, evangelism training, prayer walking, street evangelism, VBS, vision and medical clinics , women's health training, infectious disease training, and mosquito net distribution. First Baptist Norfolk provided financial support for a church planter and for the start-up of a sewing training center. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been shared with thousands of people; 4 churches have been planted. This country has the highest population percentage of Hindus in the world; the country is known for intense persecution of Christians, including murder of Jesus followers. In 2017 the country passed anti-conversion laws to discourage the sharing of the Gospel and the coming of people to be Jesus followers. However, God is workin in Nepal, the country is ranked #1 in the world for the percentage of the population becoming believers. In Nepal, the living hope of Jesus is being known; God is being glorified.

Jordan Bassett: Spain

Go and make disciples. That is the command given in Matthew 28 and it is at the center of the work being done by First Baptist Malaga and Pastor Francis. What I was not expecting when I visited Spain to meet with him along with Pastor Eric and Pastor Vernig was the way Pastor Francis was executing this command in the same way that our church is executing this command; by multiplying. It is truly amazing to see the Holy Spirit work in this way, whispering to two separate congregations across the world the same vision for reaching the people within their influence. I saw various stages of this multiplication process from simple life groups being started in homes with just a few believers to more established gatherings on the brink of autonomy. This is equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

Visiting our partners in Spain revealed to me that wherever I find myself, the Lord is asking for us to do work for His glory. Along with that work comes understanding the unique challenges of each location, like the culture or the geography. Less than one percent of Spanish people are evangelical Christians. I had no idea there were so few. The challenges of reaching a culture with so few believers can appear impossible to overcome but it is really an invitation to strengthen our faith, to give us one more reason to believe in the faithful God who loves all people regardless of where on His earth they are located. There is no obstacle too great for the gospel.

Go and make disciples. We must go. I must go. His command is an invitation, one we must accept because when we do, His glory is revealed to us even more, resulting in an even deeper hunger for the Lord. What a wonderful, neverending cycle.

Jamie, Johnny, and Bryan: Yei, South Sudan

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