News from Biloxi

Here's a note from a pastor in Biloxi. There are alot more people to pray for than just those from New Orleans:

I wanted to ask your prayers for all us folks on the Gulf Coast and throughout Mississippi who have been affected by the storm. I am one of the lucky ones. Just found out that our church First UMC in Biloxi is in relatively good shape. The parsonage miraculously escaped. Both church and parsonage are in the areas that athorities say were 90% destroyed. There will be MANY dealts before this is all over and all the "experts" are saying this will no doubt be the worst castrophy in modern US history. I still don't know about the safety of 98% of my congregation. I do know very few will not have major damage to their homes at the very least. One of the wonderful elderly couples (lay coordinators of our older adult ministry) who lived three houses down from me lost EVERYTHING. I feel like I have my own private tsunami. We are going to be trying to find homes for the next several months for literally hundreds of thousands of people. Please pray and encourage your congregations to respond. We have had so many disasters in recent months but the suffering in the midst of this is unbelievable.

God bless you all.
Gary Thompson
Pastor, First United Methodist Church
What used to be Biloxi, MS