Learn what Mission America Coalition partners and others are doing to help Gulf Coast residents as they face the monumental task of rebuilding their lives following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Christians are praying for and with the victims, reaching out with physical demonstrations of caring and are sharing hope and help in Jesus name.

Read an update from Rev. Jarvis Ward, National Facilitator of City/Community Ministries for the Mission America Coalition, who lives in Jackson, Mississippi and has been working on the front lines to mobilize churches to help those in need.

American Bible Society
The American Bible Society (ABS) has provided three quarters of a million Bibles and scripture portions to those who survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, with more to come in the days ahead. All of the scriptures are in English and Spanish and include outreach Bibles and a special booklet created for this tragedy called God Is Our Shelter and Strength. A million copies of the pocket-sized booklet have been printed in both languages.

Other booklets being distributed include The Lord Keeps You Safe; Hold On: Love Is on the Way; How Can I Pray when I’m Angry; and The Lord Is Near the Brokenhearted. Each of the portions contains Bible passages that relate to the themes and do not contain any theological or doctrinal language. The ABS believes that the Bible speaks for itself.

Notable celebrities are helping the ABS to get out the word about the desperate need for Bibles. Pat Boone has videotaped an appeal for the financial support needed by the Bible Society to give Scripture to survivors of the hurricane. Go to www.KatrinaBibles.org.

Campus Crusade for Christ
Campus Crusade for Christ, International (CCCI) President Steve Douglass says a disaster-related evangelistic hand-out Higher Ground is being distributed by CCCI and others. In the aftermath of 9/11 over 15 million similar pieces were distributed in NY, PA and Washington, DC. Higher Ground reaches the heart of the seeker affected by Hurricane Katrina, in the Gulf States and those relocated across our nation.

Similar to the Fallen But Not Forgotten magazine of 9/11, Higher Ground offers comfort and a message of hope in Jesus. It is a resource you can use while serving the afflicted.

Christian Emergency Network
Christian Emergency Network (CEN) CEO Mary Marr is encouraging Christians to share the hope found in Jesus with victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She noted, “One of the greatest ways we can care is to share with those ministries getting the job done. Most need additional funds to continue praying, caring and sharing Christ in this historic crisis, as does CEN, but many also need volunteers, such as counselors or experienced carpenters. Any of these opportunities will provide Christians with the right to share his or her personal testimony of the help found in Jesus.”

Church Adoption Program
With millions displaced and an estimated half-million jobs or more lost as a result of the hurricanes, Campus Crusade for Christ is working with the Christian Emergency Network to create a model program for churches around the country to adopt hurricane victims and provide housing, food and job-placement assistance. The model calls for churches to rent an apartment, provide food, transportation and medical care for a minimum of 90 days while the evacuees agree, with the help of the church members, to find work and eventually become self-sufficient. To find out how your church can get involved, visit www.foundationforhope.org or call 877.964.HOPE.

Project: Church Welcome
CBN.com is helping match churches who want to adopt a displaced hurricane survivor with a church who has survivors who want to be adopted by a church. This is a church to church program only. That insures some needed accountability in such a sensitive and critical process. Visit the Church Welcome section at CBN.com and complete the PDF form there to register as a church who wants to adopt. Start now to prepare for a long-term commitment to one or more families to give them a fresh start--just like Jesus did with all of us. Let's learn how to love our neighbors through the long-term in this great disaster. When linked to a healthy church, many of these folks could end up having a much better life than before and receive eternal life in the process! If your church in the disaster area has survivors who want to be adopted, email Bob Fox, Programs and Project Manager for Operation Blessing at [email protected] or call 757.620.3067. 

Joni and Friends
Joni and Friends (JAF) national office has distributed hundreds of wheelchairs and walkers to the elderly and disabled who are housed in temporary shelters and churches. One church with whom they’ve been working has provided shelter for over 70 special needs families! In Houston and elsewhere, JAF is in constant contact with independent living centers for disabled people, ready to provide more wheelchairs in a moment’s notice. For more information go to www.joni.us.

Other denominations and ministries working in the Hurricane Zone or providing resources for those working with the victims and their families:

• American Baptist Churches, USA: spiritual care and partnerships to meet physical needs.  
• American Tract Society: tracts to encourage those who have lost so much.
• Assemblies of God: Bags of Blessings for children affected by the hurricanes and a need for clean-up and construction crews.
• Christian Community Development Association: how their members are coping with the aftereffects of the hurricanes.  
• Christian and Missionary Alliance: implementing a long-term strategy for relief.
• Christian Reformed World Relief: clean-up, advocacy and resettling.  
• Church of the Nazarene, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries: stories of help and hope along with links to other groups for more information.
• Conservative Baptist Fellowship: ways to connect with those in need to volunteer and give.
• Convoy of Hope: more than 20 million pounds of relief supplies delivered.
• Evangelical Covenant Church, Covenant World Relief: a rebuilding strategy for the long haul.
• Evangelical Free Church of America: a need for volunteers and a way to help displaced families.
• Evangelical Presbyterian Churches: EPC congregations pitching in and working with World Relief.
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes: helping FCA staff members whose schools were affected by the hurricanes.
• Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches: churches responding and meeting needs.  
• International Church of the Foursquare Gospel: rebuilding lives and communities.
• Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief: sending in-kind goods and providing housing.  
• Purpose Driven Churches: ministering to hurricane victims, a natural outgrowth of developing a small group ministry.
• Salvation Army: "You are the presence of God to the people you will serve and what they will remember is the compassion you show as you provide food and listen to their stories," said Major Gene Hogg, deputy commander of Salvation Army divisional relief efforts.
• Operation Blessing: removing debris, repairing roofs and an urgent need for skilled volunteers.
• World Relief: the story of the church at work.
• World Vision: helping hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast and those who have now scattered throughout the U.S.