The Place Where God Provided

When Pastor Thomas Allen drove onto the church property on Tuesday morning after Katrina, he wasn't sure what he would find. As he shared later with the Nazarene Disaster Response Team (NDR) who visited the Pearl River (LA) Church of the Nazarene, he said, "I just felt I should be at the church to try to help people as we could." Little did he know how the Pearl River Church would play such a crucial role to the community the first ten days after the storm.

When he first arrived at the church, he found others already checking out the property. Assistant Pastor Rosalind Williams, who lived nearby, had arrived with other volunteers to begin the clean up and check for storm damage. While they were still assessing the property, an 18-wheeler rolled into the church parking lot. The driver explained he had a load of supplies to leave with the Pearl River Church to distribute to any needing assistance. But with no electricity or cooking services, they just began to make immediate plans to distribute the supplies.

In a few minutes - within the hour that the tractor trailer had pulled out of their lot - a large pick-up truck arrived with six volunteers. The men explained they were cattle farmers from Ohio who had driven all night to come to Pearl River Church and help them in their crisis. In the back of their truck were cooking grills that they immediately fired up and began serving meals to the people who were showing up at the church property.

Teams of volunteers set up serving tables and began feeding area emergency workers as well as storm victims. For several days, around the clock, a steady stream of people arrived at the Pearl River Church for a hot meal and emergency supplies. The crowds ranged from 600 to 1,000 every day, until the truck trailer was empty.

The team of volunteers finally all stopped for a full night of much needed rest, since their supplies were depleted and the truck was empty. The next morning, one of the volunteers discovered the truck was completely full again! No notes or messages were left - some Good Samaritan had come in during the night and restocked all their supplies. The volunteers fired up their grills again and continued serving meals to the hundreds arriving each day at the church property. The fascinating way the needs were provided sounds like the familiar story in Genesis 22 where Abraham named an altar Jehovah-Jivah, the place where God provided. For the first ten days after the Katrina hurricane, the Pearl River Church of the Nazarene was the main staging area for supplies. Red Cross volunteers, FEMA workers and area residents all found a hot meal and needed supplies at the Pearl River Church.

On the tenth day after the storm, federal officials set up a base of operations for the area at the regional high school campus. While everyone was relieved to see the FEMA buses and vans roll into town, all agreed their first response teams from Pearl River Church had made the difference for their community.