Illinois teams serve at home after fierce storms

Sangamon and Washington counties callout follows derecho and tornados

Chatham | “Twists and turns” was not only the Vacation Bible School theme at Chatham Baptist Church. It seemed an apt description as Disaster Relief teams arrived about the same time to begin storm recovery in the region.

The mash-up of chainsaw crews, command center operations, local residents needing assistance, and 120 kids on campus for VBS showed the commitment of Illinois Baptists to share the gospel in any and every way possible.

And somehow, it worked.

The story began two weeks earlier as a storm system swept across the state in two waves, bringing derecho winds of 100 miles-per-hour that felled trees and disrupted the power grid in Springfield with a ferocity not seen in five decades. In the midst of that June 30 storm, an EF-2 twister over Chatham produced similar results. The next day, another wave swept Washington County, plunging much of Nashville into darkness.

In their iconic yellow shirts, Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) volunteers showed up with chainsaws, trailers, hauling equipment, a mobile kitchen to feed workers, and a shower/laundry trailer to help residents without electricity for more than a week.

“We had up to 82 volunteers at one time last week, with four teams from Illinois and one from Ohio this week,” IBDR State Director Arnold Ramage said. Teams from two additional state conventions were on stand-by, if needed.

From Incident Command set up at Chatham Baptist Church, the management team and assessors dispatched crews for 266 requests, completing about half of them in the first five working days. “We’ve had jobs ranging from 30 minutes to three days,” Ramage said.

Steve Ohl, a member of Heartland Baptist Network that serves the capital city area, was on his third work site of the day, tired but still smiling. “At our last job we had one of the ladies come up and say, ‘I can’t believe how fast you guys got everything done—it was such a mess and now it looks so good,’” Ohl said.

“Yeah, it’s a bit tiring, but to see the work you did and to share the love of Christ with others, there’s no better feeling.”

Ohl is pastor of First Baptist Church of Greenview. He trained for Disaster Relief in 2012. His first callout was to Hurricane Sandy which hit New York and New Jersey that year. The experience was exhilarating, Ohl said. Helping people keeps him motivated.

“We need help,” he said, with chainsaws buzzing in the background. “There’s always room for help,” he said, urging Illinois Baptists to volunteer for the ministry.

An Ohio team of five came to Chatham to join the IBDR teams from Central, East Central, Gateway, Greater Wabash, Heartland, Kaskaskia, Macoupin, Metro East, Metro Peoria, Nine Mile, Salem South, Saline, Sandy Creek, Three Rivers, and Williamson Associations. A Mennonite team and a group of American Baptists also assisted.

Ramage reported IBDR served 1,356 meals to workers and the shower unit from Macoupin Association provided 212 showers and 66 loads of laundry for residents. During the preceding weekend, the American Red Cross asked IBDR to provide childcare at the Bank of Springfield

(BOS) Convention Center for families who were coming for assistance.

Mayor Misty Buscher said the derecho was the worst storm to hit Springfield since the 1970s. Buscher’s office told IBDR the service of their chainsaw teams was welcome as power company crews struggled to restore electricity.

“Farther north (in Illinois), people may not know what yellow shirts mean, but they are always grateful when they learn why we’re there,” Ramage said. “I always say, we do the work we have to do (with disaster recovery) so we can do the work we get to do—sharing the love of Christ.”

Ramage said requests came from a large number of senior adults and single mothers, which offered opportunity for trained chaplains to share and pray with residents.

“It’s been a good callout,” Training Coordinator Sharon Carty agreed, citing multiple gospel presentations with homeowners while chainsaw teams worked in their yards.

IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams visited several teams on work sites in Springfield and Chatham. “Thank you for the volunteers your church may send,” he said in a video afterward. “Thank you for giving so that Illinois Baptists can put volunteers like this on site to help people in times of need like this, and to share with them the love of Jesus Christ.”

In Washington County, Team Leader Emil Nattier said they fed power crews for three days. “We fed linemen and city workers and residents who didn’t have electricity,” Nattier said. Illinois Baptists served a steady supply of hamburgers and hotdogs with trained IBDR volunteers from the immediate area numbering up to 13 each day. They operated out of three IBDR trailers.

“The local community was grateful that we were there,” Nattier said of the quick response volunteers led when the need became apparent.

IBDR has more than 400 trained volunteers who serve on chainsaw and flood recovery teams, with shower, laundry, and food service, and at every callout, as chaplains. IBDR is a partner with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, part of the SBC’s Send Relief compassion ministry. It is the third largest disaster relief organization, after the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Back at Chatham Baptist Church, with Incident Command at one end of the building, VBS at the other, and the parking lot a mish-mash of DR trailers and traffic cones for kids’ games, the various ministries crossed their finish lines with more than 250 gospel presentations to homeowners and 14 salvations at VBS.

It’s what we do.