Arizona Mission Offering: Opening doors to share the gospel through Disaster Relief

Arizona Disaster Relief volunteer Bob Grezenia hauls away branches at a home in the community of Staples, near San Marcos, Texas. Grezenia was the blue hat (team leader) for this callout.

After spring storms brought extreme winds, tornadoes and flooding to Texas, two teams of Arizona Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers responded.

It is because of faithful giving to the Arizona Mission Offering that Arizona Disaster Relief is able to offer help, healing and hope to those in need. Most of Arizona Disaster Relief’s ongoing funding comes from the offering.

In early June, a chainsaw recovery team of 10, including a chaplain, served in the area around San Marcos, Texas. The team removed trees and branches that had fallen on people’s houses and in their yards when a tornado and hail storm swept through the area.

Arizona Disaster Relief volunteer Becky Grezenia talks with a homeowner in Staples, Texas.

On the callout, Bob Grezenia, a member of First Baptist Church of Show Low, served as blue hat (team leader) for the first time. He told about one home where the chainsaw team provided help.

“When we first got there, [the homeowner] was in despair, and he said he was done,” Grezenia said. “By the time we finished … he had hope.”
Providing hope is what Arizona Disaster Relief does, he said.

“The people that are impacted by the disaster are looking for hope, and Jesus met a lot of people’s physical needs and then helped them with their spiritual needs,” Grezenia said. “So, that’s why we do this. We’ll help them with what they need physically, which hopefully allows us to have the opportunity to share about Jesus and the hope that we have in Jesus.”

Two weeks before the chainsaw team arrived in Texas, seven Arizona Disaster Relief volunteers traveled to Coldspring, Texas, to serve for two weeks in flood recovery, assessment, with the shower/laundry unit, in chaplaincy and incident command. While some of the work was behind the scenes, others had opportunities to talk to those who had been affected by the flooding.

A member of the Arizona Disaster Relief chainsaw team saws a fallen tree at a home in Staples, Texas.

“We do the work to earn the right to talk to them about the Lord,” said Patty Kirchner, feeding unit manager for Arizona Disaster Relief.

It’s a blessing to serve through Arizona Disaster Relief, Grezenia said.

“In all of the deployments, I’m pretty sure that we get more blessed than the people we’re trying to bless,” he said. “But the biggest reason we do it is the more places we go, the more people we can share Jesus’ love with. And that’s our whole thing, is to share Jesus’ love and look for and wait for opportunities to share the gospel.”

Elizabeth Young is director of communications for the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists.

Arizona Disaster Relief volunteers stack wood at a home in Staples, Texas.