|
Project Pearlington: The End of A 3-year Journey
<<< Back to News
In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina barreled down the central Gulf Coast and destroyed nearly everything in its path. It became one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S., killing more than 1,800 people and causing more than $81.2 billion in damages. On August 29, at 10:00 a.m., the eye of Katrina made direct contact with Pearlington, Mississippi—a city halfway between Biloxi and New Orleans. Almost every home, building, and vehicle in the town of 1,600 was destroyed. During recovery, Pearlington and other smaller towns seemed to be forgotten. Full rescue and recovery didn’t arrive for 10 days, and when they did, all that was left were mounds of debris from destroyed homes, trees, and more. Six hundred of the 1,600 residents were living in tents and under tarps. Gene and Lynn Torti, longtime members of Brentwood Baptist, were preparing to leave the Nashville area and go on a sports-related mission journey to Myanmar. Lynn felt burdened about helping people in the Gulf Coast,” Gene said. “So I began to pray a daily dangerous prayer that God would get me involved in something so big that I couldn’t take any glory for it.” God told the Tortis to head south and take care of the hurricane victims, but Gene remembers praying, “I can’t do that, Lord. It’s too big.” In January 2006, God spoke clearly to Gene again saying, “Are you going to do this thing I’ve called you to or not?” The Tortis were sure of their next steps. That’s when the process of Project Pearlington began. Initially, Project Pearlington partnered with ReConstruct, a ministry that equips and prepares students and adults for mission service by providing assistance to low-income individuals with home repairs, and recruited Brentwood Baptist member Don Reid on their leadership team. Since that first step, more than 300 church members have traveled to the Gulf on six journeys to help 10 families since the first trip two years ago—mainly resourced because of Brentwood Baptist members’ giving through the Hope for the World Missions Offering. From the beginning, their hands were full. But using their gifts, God purposed their steps. Lynn said, “Don handles more of the technical aspect—making sure everything can work well together. I shower compassion on the people and like to love on them—and focus on the paint and furniture. And Gene is about mobilizing people to get there.” The first miracle for them was seeing one family move in within seven days— building the home from the foundation up. “People came from all over to see this house that had been built by people from Brentwood Baptist,” Gene said. During this first project, they ran into an obstacle—getting the electricity turned on in an extremely short amount of time. “Usually, it takes two weeks to get it turned on,” Gene said. “One day, we all stopped working at about 11 o’clock so some others could go and get it turned on. By 1:30 p.m., we came back and the power was on. That was strictly a God-thing.” On the second trip, the crew worked on Donald and Jackie Vince’s house. Cindy Boto, a member on the trip, heard God speak to her as she was painting the trim in the house being built. He said, “What good is it to build this physical house when you don’t know about the eternal home of these people?” The team had just assumed the new owners were Christians but later found out they didn’t know Jesus personally. Through Cindy, they both came to know Christ. During the trips, Brentwood Baptist had come to make a reputation for itself. Don said, “We would hear so many times, ‘I had no hope. I lost all hope. But you’ve given me hope through this.’” The members of each trip would go not knowing each other and come back feeling like family. “We would go down there with 35 people and you may only know 3-4 of them,” Lynn said. “But we would all come home with 35 new friends. When you go on mission together, you grow closer as a church.” At the end of each trip, the crew would celebrate. Lynn said, “Our trips get to be very emotional toward the end. You pour into these people’s lives during the week. You pour your own life into doing the work for them. By the end of it all, you’re praying and praising for what God has done.” Through the work of Project Pearlington crews, the low-income community in this small town has come together to support each other and rebuild their lives together. This October, Project Pearlington will take its last crew to rebuild a home before they end their 3-year journey. “We’re hoping to help rebuild a local Missionary Baptist church there,” Gene said. “We hope it will be a grand finale for Project Pearlington. The ones we’ll be helping are local members of a church who have been feeding volunteers since the recovery began. They are rebuilding their sanctuary—a 7,000-square-foot building. They’ve given back to their community in a hard time, and now it’s time the community gives back to them.” For more information on the upcoming Pearlington mission journey or other mission journeys this fall, go to BrentwoodMissions.com.
|
|
|
|
|
