Cell phone makes teen group hug possible after Hurricane Jeanne strikes Space Coast church

INDIALANTIC (FBW)-Holding up a cell phone for students give one of their own a big group hug, Bill Stanley told 15-year-old Seth Tweeddale that despite the fact that he missed Wednesday night Live-Wire Sept. 29, the nearly two dozen teens assembled there were praying for him and his family.

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For 14-year-old Maria Fadden, the group’s concern for one of her friends, after learning the roof of the boy’s home had been literally torn off by Hurricane Jeanne, made a big impact.

In fact, Fadden told Florida Baptist Witness the gesture was the most significant thing she had witnessed in a place where two strong hurricanes have recently swept through the tiny town on the Atlantic seashore just south of Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Stanley, her youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Indialantic, agreed ministry is about relationships, not the “bling-bling” of programs and schedules—especially at a time when teens’ lives have been tossed upside down.

“The storm going on in teens’ lives today are not easily tracked,” Stanley said. “In 2004 a teen’s life is one series of decisions, frustrations and challenges after another.”

A Florida native and a graduate of The Baptist College of Florida at Graceville, Stanley said he is no stranger to storms, but these two strikes, a one-two punch for the Space Coast, has renewed his passion for reaching students at a time when they are outside their comfort zone—having to deal with inconveniences they typically encounter only on the mission field.

“God’s kind of juiced me up to see what it’s going to be like here,” said Stanley, after ending a Bible study and prayer time with about two-dozen teens scattered on the lawn on blankets in front of his lawn chair outside the church. “I really want to see believers step up and the church be the church.” Stanley has been at First Baptist for 10 months.

Chris Jacobs, 13, said he has been impressed that there’s more to life than “material possessions,” and has taken to heart the biblical teaching from Ecclesiastes which he says teaches doing God’s will is what matters and everything else is “all vanity.”

“It’s nice to see how church members have pulled together to work on the church,” Jacobs said. “The body has taken care of each other.”

Around the outside of the church, where members met in groups outside to avoid the stifling air inside—words of encouragement and concern were tossed about as easily as were the bedraggled fronds of once proud palm trees and the torn and twisted metal of rain gutters and sign casings. A huge mailbox which replaced the one torn out by Hurricane Frances a few weeks ago, didn’t survive either—it had been pulled from its brick enclosure and flung to the ground near a pile of carpet pulled from the church’s 800-seat sanctuary after Hurricane Jeanne tore through town Sept. 26.

Inside the church’s six-building interconnected facility, determined members of the church choir, clutching sheet music and clad in T-shirts and rubber-soled shoes, made their way to Wednesday night rehearsal.

There were about half the usual number, reported Pastor Jim Johnson, as the hardy bunch strode past a plastic shrouded organ, through a carpetless sanctuary and into the airless choir loft where they were intent on preparing for Sunday worship. For safety reasons, only one of the three-phase electrical system had been restored.

Johnson said the church has invited a music minister to visit Sunday in view of a call.

“There will be no air, no carpet and no acoustics,” Johnson said. “Now’s our chance to show the world we’re fine.”

Johnson stood animatedly with his five-year-old son, A.J., just outside of the sanctuary on a darkened street-front where the sun had just faded from the sky and a balmy breeze offered its relief—in sight of a coastal high-rise still without electricity after being damaged by the storm.

The thirty-something pastor, whose own home sustained damage when roof tiles and shingles blew from an area around his 10 and 8-year-old daughters’ bedroom, said the hurricanes have provided an opportunity for believers to make an impact in an unprecedented way.

“I got excited,” Johnson said, on hearing about a second strike following so soon on the heels of the first in his area of the state. “In America, Christians have a tendency to think God is supposed to bless us.

“The true biblical teaching is that God reveals Himself to us in how we respond to adversity,” Johnson said. Recalling Old Testament times when people become believers when they saw how God blessed Abraham and Issac, Johnson said it’s different today when few credit God for anything they own—let alone the peace, contentment and joy that comes with knowing God.

“The whole point is that when the storm came again, and we got it way worse, God provided yet another opportunity,” said Johnson. “Now we have a chance to show those who don’t know God that we’re fine and that God’s the same.”

Careful to not downplay the terrible tragedy that has occurred with some losing their homes and others facing challenging decisions in the days ahead, Johnson said the problem with teachings that focus on evidence of faithfulness through material possessions is false Christianity and misses the point entirely.

“How can you say to someone who is faithful and who lost their house that God must have blessed their neighbor more because their house was spared?” asked Johnson rhetorically. “You can’t.”

Despite knowing yet whether insurance will cover the losses the church has experienced, Johnson said his congregation is “pretty pumped” about continuing to reach out to a hurting community and to minister to its own members as well.

“If we ever needed to meet, now is the time,” Johnson said.

Earlier while Johnson was leading the adult Bible study and prayer time, Bob Blackwood, a deacon at First Baptist, told Florida Baptist Witness he knows people “are just tired” and many were at home trying to take care of themselves.

Blackwood recalled fondly a team of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief workers from North Carolina who showed up after Hurricane Frances, but had to evacuate before Hurricane Ivan. In addition to helping to cover damaged roofs with tarps and clear away debris, he said N.C. and other workers set up a feeding station nearby at First Baptist Church in Melbourne.

“They did a tremendous job,” he said, lauding their example in reaching out to others outside of their own community. “Our first ministry goes to our body itself, but I think we need to go beyond that,” said Blackwood.

The church presently supports missions activities in 15 various parts of the world, Pastor Johnson said, in addition to contributing to the Cooperative Program and Florida’s Maguire State Mission Offering—which supports disaster relief. Although a starting a disaster relief ministry team might seem appropriate given the seriousness of the times—he said making sure it’s God’s plan for their congregation would be a priority before getting started.

“We are always in the process of seeking out what God has in mind,” Johnson said, also commenting on how Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is organized and poised to help when disasters occur.

“The great thing about Southern Baptists is how they partnership to serve the Lord,” he said. “I’ve often told people that, as a Christian, I could be a renegade or partner with Southern Baptists who share the same views.”

Likening Southern Baptists to red ants who alone can do little, but together can achieve a great “bite,” Johnson said he has a lot of respect for cooperative work.

“When Southern Baptists work together, they are extremely effective,” he said.

To volunteer, please contact the Florida Baptist Men’s Department at 800-226-8584, ext.3121. Financial contributions for relief efforts may be sent to the Florida Baptist Convention, 1230 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL, 32207. For credit card donations please call 800-226-8584, ext. 3049