SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two young men, life-long friends from Cape Coral Christian School in southwest Florida, took a trip to Haiti with Mission of Hope in 2013. The squalor they witnessed in sprawling tent cities far exceeded their worst expectations. Brett Hagler described it as “crazy.” He and Mike Arietta knew something had to…
PORTSMOUTH, VA – Natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes can leave families as deprived of food and shelter as people displaced from war zones or subject to abject poverty. Having a pantry and a refrigerator full of food before a disaster strikes are useless after it has passed.Gary LeBlanc had already spent 35 years…
VIRGINIA BEACH – Operation Blessing began in 1978 under the leadership of businessman, Bible teacher, philanthropist, and founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson. Over the years, Operation Blessing has “touched the lives of millions of people in more than 90 countries” and every one of the United States. Operation Blessing exists to provide…
Vernon Brewe, founder of World Help, discusses the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, and the immediate desperate help needed immediately. “Bodies are floating all through the water in Marsh Harbour.” These are the words in an urgent text message I received recently. Most news reports say the death toll…
Welsh councillors in the UK have defended their freedom to conduct prayers before meetings in the face of opposition from those labelling it ‘discriminatory’. Councillor Paul Penlington called on Denbighshire Council in North Wales in the UK, to conduct prayers away from the council chamber, and has received the support of the National Secular Society….
BAHAMAS — Samaritan’s Purse made its first airlift of the Emergency Field Hospital to the Bahamas on September 5, at the request of the World Health Organization and the government of the Bahamas. Multiple flights will follow. A team of 16 staff members, including doctors and nurses, was on the flight to help set up…
BAHAMAS — Samaritan’s Purse is airlifting the Emergency Field Hospital to the Bahamas today, September 5, 2019, at the request of the World Health Organization and the government of the Bahamas. A team of 16 staff members, including doctors and nurses, will be on the flight to help set up the mobile hospital. The 40-bed…
LAREDO, TX – The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) is offering respite for immigrant families alongside Samaritan’s Purse at centers in Del Rio and Laredo, Texas. “They have nothing,” Billy Graham chaplain Barbra Grabowski said, explaining these immigrant families travel anywhere from 10 days to a month to get to this point. Many come…
EL PASO, TX — The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is offering emotional and spiritual care in the aftermath of the deadly El Paso shooting that killed 22 and injured many more. Their Mobile Ministry Center, which is parked at the memorial site is providing a safe haven for the community. Their manager for emergency…
DAYTON, OH – The community of Dayton grieves at a makeshift memorial for nine people who were killed early Sunday by a gunman. Billy Graham Rapid Response chaplains are there to listen and provide emotional and spiritual care to hurting residents, including first responders and witnesses to the shooting. A grim reality is sinking in…
![“[Many] keep saying ‘El Paso Strong,’ and you are strong,” Wendy Pittman told several ladies near the Walmart where 22 innocent lives were taken and dozens more injured.](https://missionsbox.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/El-Paso-Strong-230x300.jpg)
EL PASO, TX – The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) is offering emotional and spiritual care in the aftermath of the deadly El Paso shooting that killed 22 and injured many more in Texas. “Only God can change a person’s heart,” RRT chaplain Joseph Morrison said. “We’ve got to keep pressing. Today could be…
CHARLOTTE, NC — Teams of crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) are on their way to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, following a pair of shootings over the weekend. News reports say 20 people have died and 26 others were injured in El Paso. In Dayton, an additional nine people were killed and…
CHARLESTON, SC – It was only a short while ago that Beliefnet released an article entitled, 10 Faith-Based Nonprofits Fighting the World Water Crisis. Both Gospel for Asia and Water Mission were honored to be included in that list. (Missions Box published a follow-up that focused on GFA’s tireless efforts to provide for the millions…
CHARLOTTE, NC — Crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team are deploying to Jefferson City, MO, following a destructive EF-3 tornado that impacted an area of approximately three square miles, damaging more than 150 structures. The twister was one of more than a dozen that tore through the state earlier this week. “Chaplains with the Billy…
Samaritan’s Purse volunteers have been busy in Nebraska since March 22 assisting communities after catastrophic flooding struck the Midwest. They have been helping dozens of homeowners remove debris and damaged belongings and offering encouragement in Jesus’ Name. “You know it was a perfect storm really. Huge storm system came through, fell on frozen ground, fell…
CHARLOTTE, NC — Crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team are on-site in Dodge County, Neb., one of many areas across the Midwest that has been inundated with an historic level of flooding. Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts called the disaster – which was caused by a combination of factors including a bomb cyclone, deeply frozen ground,…
MOZAMBIQUE – After Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe were pummeled with winds up to 170 mph by Cyclone Idai in mid-March, a Red Cross worker described the damage as “massive and horrifying.” As is almost always the case following large-scale hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons, the countries are suffering massive flooding. According to Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF),…
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until [these] calamities have passed by. KERALA – When we hear the words typhoon, cyclone, or hurricane our first reaction is a heightened awareness of potential danger….
MYRTLE BEACH – From time to time we need to be reminded that putting our faith into action is just as important at home as it is in distant lands. I saw the love of God in action in the wake of the Hurricane Florence disaster after it left families in parts of the coastal…
ALLAHABAD – The monsoon and post-monsoon seasons are hard on the poor in India, particularly those who work in the fields. A consortium of over 400 humanitarian aid agencies has come together to help during these difficult times this year. The consortium has established grain banks in over 100 villages across northern India in expectation…
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Special Report on Slavery & Human Trafficking Written By Palmer Holt of InChrist Communications Around 10 million people are currently behind bars somewhere in the world. Some have yet to face trial, a few have been wrongly convicted, but most are prisoners for a crime they have committed. Meanwhile, four…
DHAKA – Imagine it is a rainy Sunday morning. You wake up, you consider the downpour, and you decide that the weather is too bad for anyone to go to church. And you are the pastor! Now imagine that you live in a country like Bangladesh and that it is the monsoon system, which it…
GOA, INDIA – Six young women, all members of the Indian Navy have provided some inspiration for their younger counterparts by successfully circumnavigating the globe in a 56-foot, single-mast sailboat, the Tarini. This amazing accomplishment was the first-ever Indian expedition steered by women sailors – and, it should provide some encouragement for those in a…
HAITI – Sherman Balch and his wife Cheryl volunteered to go to Haiti with a group from their church a few months after the 2010 earthquake. That visit became a life-changing experience that led to the founding of Extollo, a Latin word that means “to raise up.” Now Extollo is a life-changing experience for native…
By Greg Henshall from FEMA photo library – public domain via Wikimedia Commons WASHINGTON, DC – The Trump Administration has revised the language in FEMA Relief Fund rules to include local churches. The action follows a lawsuit filed by three Texas churches damaged during Hurricane Harvey. The three Houston-area churches filed a complaint in federal…
Photo by European Commission DG ECHO Last October, Typhoon Sarika hit Vietnam and the Philippines, causing flooding to the region. It had the strength of a Category 3 hurricane. Accuweather explains, “The powerful typhoon made landfall in Luzon with sustained winds over 180 km/h (112 mph) on Saturday night, local time. This strength is…
LEEDS, Ala. – More than 900 wildfires torched about 200 acres in central Alabama, affecting homes and businesses and creating poor visibility on Interstate 20. The blazes produced plumes of smoke so thick they were visible on weather radar. Fed by a drought throughout the Southeast, the fires destroyed more than 100,000 acres in Alabama…
More than 13 people from Alabama to Texas have died in August flooding. Louisiana caught the brunt of the damage as more than 30 inches fell in some parts of the state. “It is way worse … more widespread” than even Hurricane Katrina, said Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Chad McCann, a member of…
Cyclone Roanu recently swept across the Indian ocean and made landfall near Chittagong, Bangladesh, claiming 26 lives as it displaced 500,000 people. The government ordered 2 million people to evacuate the coastal areas, which officials believe kept the death toll low. But many ignored the warning because the cyclone’s winds were only about 50 miles…
The Pacific island nation of Fiji is recovering from two cyclones and major floods,all happening since late February 2016. Tropical Cyclone Winston, the strongest recorded cyclone ever in Fiji and the Southern Hemisphere, was a Category 5 tropical cyclone with estimated winds of 185 miles per hour. As the eye of Cyclone Winston crossed Fiji,…
