The Concept of Pathfinder Mission
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina
devastated the Mississippi Gulf coast. It displaced thousands of
families, destroyed businesses, and in some cases physically changed
the landscape. Gateway Baptist Church of Montgomery responded by sending a support team
to the Gulf which has been serving “on the ground” since the September
2, 2005, the Friday after the storm. During the past 5 years, we
have witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of aid from the churches
all across the United States in the form of food, clothing,
construction materials, money and volunteers. This outpouring of
support and sacrifice has made a great impression on the Katrina
victims. Christians and non-Christians, alike, tell us that if it
were not for the churches they don’t know how they could possibly
have gotten by.
We believe that God uses disasters to
bring an awareness in people of the “God-shaped
void” in their lives. In his book “The Present Future”, Reggie
McNeal said, “A culture desperate for God comes to church after
every single major crisis … they are in search of sacred space and
sacred connections.” He goes on to say that in the absence of the
church responding to their need they will create their own solution.
So many times we have seen
God's mighty hand move to provide for the needs of those we are
helping and the needs of the ministry. So many times
we have seen the people who are struggling to recover from the
devastation blessed by the work and words
of the many volunteers who have come to their aid.
The ministry provided through this mission
is in the form of both practical assistance to the local
residents, helping them to recover and re-establish their lives
(Matthew 25, James 1:27) and spiritual activities focusing on outreach to
evangelize the lost (Matthew 28).
