As the number of houses that need mucking will eventually decline, unwavering servants for Bayou City Relief continue to press in to the relief needs in our city, finding gaps and filling them. Bayou City Fellowship has received volunteers from all over the country, coming to support and reinforce our troops. Some perhaps expecting to be busting out drywall and bagging wet insulation while wading through waist deep water but instead find themselves handing out diapers, dog food, and feminine products in a historically underserved and unglamorous part of town. Dana Brennan and Jake Daghe from Passion City Church in Atlanta, GA, traveled to Houston on Friday to make themselves useful to the Kingdom alongside a Bayou City Relief crew serving in Kashmere Gardens, a thoroughly neglected, low income 5th Ward neighborhood.
The crew, lead by Bayou City Fellowship’s Khara Bong, was there with tables set up and donations in hand to serve residents of the neighborhood whose homes were flooded and had yet to receive much help. The hope was to let these people know that they are not forgotten, that their needs are seen and prayers heard by the Lord and that he was sending his servants to aid and lift them up. Dana and Jake took post at the end of the line of tables and carried cases of bottled water and garbage bags full of toiletries, paper goods, baby and pet necessities, snacks, and clothing to cars for the guests and then proceeded to pray over each individual before they left. Dana, who at his home church oversees community groups, city engagement, and spiritual formation, spoke on his experience serving with Bayou City Relief that day.
“We were helping support from behind the scenes but knew we needed to get here on the ground and even see what it would look like to bring more people back. It’s pretty cool to see all of these people come up with frustration on their face but they’re leaving with joy and smiles. They go from showing no teeth to showing all of their teeth when they leave! I’m grateful to see people here serving and loving on them, praying for them, and investing in their lives and speak God’s truth over them. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.
There’s no doubt that the gospel is alive and at work here. I was just talking to a young man who’s a couple of blocks down and to hear him come and say, ‘This reminds me that God has not forgotten me and this gives me hope that I can use for the next couple of days. I’m going to take this back to my neighbors and hand some of this out so I can give them the same hope that God just gave me and imparted in my life.’ I was just so touched by that. He and I prayed and talked for a little bit but that was just a representation of so much that’s happening here. We are ultimately living out scripture and we can talk about it on Sunday’s and in our Bible studies, but it’s a whole different story to get out here in 95 degree heat and truly say, ‘hey how can I serve you?’. If that means walking this stuff all the way back to your house, then we will walk this stuff with you all the way back to your house. If that means speaking some encouragement into your life, then I’ll do that, too. If it means doing that and everything in between, I will.’ It’s a beautiful thing. I love it.”
