Rise Up Church

The following is a letter from a preacher in Indiana.

Every church needs to adopt a city and send items down. Red cross is not there. Salvation Army is not there. Bogalusa, LA and Poplaville, MS are being kept alive by churches and donations. There are few supplies to buy if you send money. They need essentials trucked in. Red cross has done nothing. They are still "assessing the situation." Send help now. Pick a city in the affected area and send a truck. Don't wait. We started asking people Monday morning for items. By Wednesday at noon we were unloading a whole semi full of items to these people. You can do the same.

If every church adopted a town and sent items it would fix the problem. We must all help. It's not George Bushes job. It's the churches job according to God. No organization is big enough to handle it. We must all pitch in and help these people. If every church would send down 4 tons of water and food we could feed these people.

We dodged fallen trees and rolled over downed power lines to get off I59 into Bogalusa on highway 26. We rolled into town and were directed to the Wal-Mart where the National Guard were set up. Wal-Mart was guarded by soldiers with M-16s. The customer service was were I found the captain in charge. He personally guided our truck to the airport and armory where we unloaded items with prisoners from the state penitentiary out on work release. It was managed by the local fire department and the corrections officers. There was a line of cars over a mile long slowly moving through at about 10mph. they would be given water, pull forward and be given Ice, pull forward and be given toilet paper, pull forward and be given diapers and pads, pull forward and be given food and so on.

The local fire chief said that the city government was corrupt and keeping aid for themselves and thief families and that the only aid getting to people were the 10 trucks that were sent by church and private organizations or companies. There were 50,000 people being served by that relief center. We are these peoples only hope of help. Fed money is not getting to the people. Local government is unorganized and corrupt. But the church can do what the government and red cross can't.

Our 4 tons of bottled water and Gatorade were gone and distributed before we even unloaded the rest of the truck. Our youth minister Russ literally gave one man a pair of his own shoes to a man who had only wet boots that made his feet bleed. Your church needs to take up a collection, purchase items box them up and send them down in a semi trailer with some other churches. For $1000 dollars you could by 3 tons of bottled water. These people will need sustained assistance. Please don't sit back and blame the government. It is too big for any government organization to handle. If you have ever seen a tornado damage, it's just like that only for thousands of square miles. I saw whole forests blown over and dozens of trees snapped in two or torn up by roots as big as our semi tractor.

If there is any love of Christ in you, start organizing to send relief to these people. You can contact the Bogalusa fire department at 985 732 6217. Or call Poplarville who has almost nothing at 601 795 7033 and ask for Shirley. Or to find other towns who have received little or no help call Billy Wallace at 318 386 4755 or call Jason Corder at 337 581 9230. Do something. Send these people help. If you can't go then send us money and we'll get supplies down to them or donate to forest park church in Crowley and let them ship in items. Go to http://www.forestparkchurch.org/

12 Tons of food, water, and clothing handed out in Bogalusa, La

But better yet, get your own shipment together and take two days to deliver your gift of love in person. Allow yourself to be used by God. Share the gospel as you go. Give God the glory. Stand before God knowing you fed the hungry and clothed the naked. Show the mercy of God on these people. Don't say in a wicked heart, they deserve it. We all deserve worse. We deserve Hell! But God came to us in our sinful need and had mercy on us. How much more should we who have received mercy give mercy? How much more should the saved become saviors. If God gave you eternal life, can't you give physical sustenance to those without?

Our 12 tones of items was not nearly enough. We must all help. Now is our chance to share the love of Christ. Rise up church! In every box of food, clothing or supplies we put a Bible. We donated hundreds of Bibles with our supplies. These people need hope. They thanked and thanked us and were begging for us to send more. As I drove away, I realized I had not even made a dent in the problem. What difference did I make, I thought. And then I realized... to the woman who received some diapers and a Bible, some water and a Bible, some new underwear and a Bible, some food and a Bible, I made a big difference. I wish to God I could feed them all. I just can't. But by the power of God, I helped at least a few. If we all did we could overwhelm these people with the Love of Jesus.

They need daily items

Water
Baby food
Baby Diapers
Adult undergarments
Sanitary napkins
Canned food (soup and stew)
Bread
Snack foods
medical supplies
tarps
generators

and most of all daily prayers without ceasing.