By David Winfrey

Fresno—Don Hargis didn’t understand disaster relief when he got the assignment to lead it in 1992.

“I didn’t even know what disaster relief was. Neither did the convention, to speak of,” he said. “They said, ‘You have disaster relief.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ They said, ‘We’re not sure, but it doesn’t take much of your time.’”

Back then, he estimates, fewer than 100 California Baptists were trained to provide disaster relief. Seventeen years ago, Hargis had just left the pastorate to lead men’s ministries for California Baptists. He said he had no idea this small ministry would grow to dominate his job description.

Today, more than 2,300 have volunteered or trained for disaster relief. Hargis estimates disaster relief training and coordination requires 70 percent of his schedule.

“Last year, we were busy every month except one with a response to fires, floods and then the earthquake, Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav,” he said.

Disaster relief is a key ministry for sharing God’s love to those with no church involvement. Hargis travels approximately 20,000 miles each year to California Baptist churches, recruiting and training members for disaster relief and other aspects of men’s ministries.

Volunteers are still responding to needs from the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, he noted. “The impact we’re having in the name of Christ is phenomenal, according to our contacts,” Hargis said.

“We have a team that just came home from Thailand. We’ve got another that’s going next month to do repair work with the sea gypsies, a cultural group there in Thailand,” he said. “They’re very poor and when the tsunami hit it just about wiped them out.”

Whether overseas or in Santa Barbara, where recent wildfires destroyed homes, disaster relief earns Baptists the opportunity to minister in Christ’s name, Hargis said.

“They know who Southern Baptists are. They know that we care and that we’ve come to help them,” he said. “We’re not trying to push Jesus down anyone, but if they’re interested in hearing about Jesus, we’re ready to tell them.”

Hargis noted research by the North American Mission Board found two-thirds of people affected by disasters want to learn why volunteers come to serve.

“They want to hear about our faith, which means the door is open to us to share,” he said. “One of the quotes that we have in disaster relief is that anybody can give help, but only Christians can actually give hope.”

State government has grown to accept the work of California Baptist disaster relief volunteers as their numbers and influence has grown, Hargis added.

Initially, they “didn’t think we really knew what we were doing. Now they’ve seen that we care, that we know what we’re doing.”

“They welcome us,” Hargis said. “They want us to be at their meetings. They want us to be in their plans. They send other agencies now to us … to integrate them into the process.”

Because California Southern Baptists pray for and give to the California Mission Offering Hargis and Disaster Relief volunteers are demonstrating “Love With Action.”

To view a short video of Don, click here.