RESTORING HOPE IN A COMMUNITY
The sanctuary pictured above was constructed as an Army Chapel in 1942. In 1947, the church purchased the chapel and moved it to our property in Downtown Bay St. Louis.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast and severely damaged our church facility – depositing flood waters in all of our buildings, tearing off our steeple, and compromising the structural integrity of the sanctuary.
Beginning the day after Hurricane Katrina, our church began to minister to our community and provided basic necessities, a doctor’s office, a laundromat, and a housing facility for volunteers helping to repair and rebuild homes in our community.
In the past 2 years, we have seen an outpouring of God’s blessings in the way of volunteers, supplies, and finances to bring hope to our church and community. As our congregation size diminished after the storm and even now is at 60% of the size it was prior to Katrina, we needed to rely on God and other caring Christians!
We are so thankful for so many prayers, supplies, financial gifts, and rebuilding efforts by people who cared for us because of their love for Christ. We could not have come this far without the love and actions of others. However, we still have a long way to go. While we have primarily focused on helping our community members repair their homes, we have also worked to make repairs to the portions of our facility that remained structurally-sound after the storm. However, due to the damage to our sanctuary and fellowship hall, we were forced to demolish that portion of our facility.
With so much still to do, many people have asked us, “What can we do to help?”
Prayer is needed to help us to continue to have God’s vision for our church. We live in an area where so many people do not know Christ, and we need to know how God wants us to minister to our community and how to use our facilities as a ministry tool for their needs.
Also we do need financial help. The more money we raise now, the less money we will need to borrow as we begin the rebuilding phase of our new sanctuary. We trust that God will provide us with the necessary funds, but please join with us in prayer for our finances to rebuild.
Lastly, for those who desire to make a contribution to our rebuilding efforts, we have provided necessary information for you to do so on the final section of this brochure.
We believe that our efforts of ministry in the community will help our church have open doors to minister to our neighbors and bring them into a relationship with Christ. Your contribution would be very helpful at this point in time as we look to rebuild our sanctuary to minister to our current and future church members.
If you would like to contribute to the rebuilding of the sanctuary, please make your check payable to “First Baptist Church,” and write “New Construction” in the memo line. Also, please include your name and address with the contribution so that we may provide you with a receipt for your tax-deductible gift.
Thank you so much for the ways in which you have already aided us, and please remember to keep us in your prayers as we continue to minister and rebuild in this area.
Please send contributions to:
141 Main Street
Bay St. Louis, MS 39520
(228-467-4005)
www.fbcbsl.net