How ministries are responding to the Katrina crisis I've been amazed at how so many Christian organizations have responded to the Katrina crisis. Especially the big TV ministries.
8/31/05 Ministry Update Regarding Hurricane Katrina Disaster (all bold type is in the original message on the JDM website): Dear Partners and Friends,
We are so thankful for the deep concern for our welfare and great love that has been expressed by wonderful friends and partners of our ministry during this difficult time. We are on the edge of the devastation, and are blessed to report that our ministry has suffered virtually no damage. We are not under water, as you may be seeing on television reports. However, we are still under mandatory evacuation and without basic utilities.
Many have asked if they can still send financial support through the mail in the usual way to help with the ongoing expenses of JDM – the answer is yes, you can! Our partners and friends know that we need prayers and finances in order to continue our ministry work. According to the US Postal Service, we should be able to pick up our mail next week, which under the circumstances is a miracle in itself. Our mail is not damaged, glory to God! So, we ask that you continue to contribute to our ministry as you normally would. For those that would rather give online, we expect to have access to those funds even sooner.
We were able to speak with many of our staff members by phone, and although they have evacuated to four states, everyone is safe and making plans to return home and to work. Once JDM is up and running (which we pray will be as soon as next week), a Supply and Distribution Center will be set up at our International Headquarters to help with the terrible devastation in our area. All financial gifts of any amount for this relief effort will also be greatly appreciated.
As for our meetings, ALL scheduled meetings listed on our website and in JDM’s Voice of the COVENANT magazine will be held as advertised, with the exception of the 2005 Women’s Conference, which was scheduled to be at our facility in October.
We appreciate your patience as we recover from this storm. Please continue to keep JDM, our families, congregation and those affected by Katrina in your prayers. It is our prayer that God will restore ALL that the devil has stolen, and that we will become shining lights of hope to our community, and our nation. Together, we are reaching people and changing lives.
Thank you for your continued support. -- Jesse and Cathy Duplantis
IN case you're worried about Jesse and Cathy, relax. They've found shelter with John Hagee Ministries, which I'm happy to report provides a link to Louisiana Homeland Security and a message of "love and support to all of our friends and partners in the Gulf Coast area."
Oh, wait a minute. Hmmm. I'm looking at the TBN homepage and see no mention of Hurricane Katrina.
Oh, here's the TBN search engine. Let's type in "hurricane katrina" and see what TBN is up to in the wake of this devastation:
Search results for: hurricane katrina
Your search yielded no results. Please try again.
OK, I'm not being fair here. I shouldn't pick on TV evangelists so much. After all, Juanita Bynum, whose website bills her organization as "more than a ministry" (it's true: it's also a bookstore and email address harvester) must be doing something to help her fellow African-American brothers and sisters ravaged by the storm. Right? Right?