It’s hard to write about Sunday without mentioning the rain and the massive flooding across our state. Parts of Columbia are under water and the city was under a curfew after 6:00 pm Sunday evening. Even sections of Interstate highway have been closed. Our son, Steven, and his wife were in Myrtle Beach for a previously planned vacation and were unable to drive home Sunday afternoon. Our Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams are being called out to assist residents with cleanup and other needs. Some of our Baptist churches have probably suffered damage as well. As always, I know you are praying for the people impacted by all of this.

Even though the weather affected attendance yesterday, God blessed us in many ways. That is what happens when we are faithful to Him.

Another nine people who had attended Dinner with the Pastor joined our Family of Faith yesterday. Tom Cook shared his story in both worship services and did a really good job. Our “A Story to Tell” focus continues to catch steam as more stories were submitted Sunday afternoon and evening, with even more arriving Monday morning. The new “A Story to Tell” T-shirts were available yesterday and seem to be a big hit with most folks.

God blessed Sunday evening’s “evangelism workshop” and it was all His doing. Our leader, Ron Barker, was unable to make it due to the weather. He had to return to Columbia to protect his house from rising water. So at the last minute, I put together a plan and we ploughed ahead. About 60 people spent two hours working on their stories and talking about other aspects of evangelism. While everyone was not at the same place in the process of writing their stories, the time together helped all of us. One key takeaway for many in the group is that it helps to decide what the message or theme of your story is. Often we try to tell our whole life history and include too many details, causing the central message of what Jesus has done in our lives to get lost. This whole process of writing our stories has been eye opening for many of us and God is using it to help many of us reflect on our relationship with Him. This focus will not end when the current sermon series ends.

If you haven’t noticed the blue wall in the lobby with members’ stories on it, please check it out soon. As the weeks pass more and more stories will be posted there.

In closing, I’ve been in contact with several people around the state today and the conditions in the midlands are worse than most of us can imagine. Some of our Baptist churches are housing displaced residents and most church services in Columbia were canceled Sunday. The lack of flood insurance will create financial hardships for many of our fellow South Carolinians. Our Baptist Disaster Relief feeding units are already serving and in the near future mud out crews will begin working, followed by the chain saw crews. There will also be a need for financial donations. We will coordinate our efforts to help through the South Carolina Baptist Convention and our Disaster Relief ministry. Again, pray that God brings a lot of good out of this disaster.

Pastor Steve Hogg