TEXAS CITY — April Blanton was not wearing what one would consider her Sunday best. However, given the circumstances, a T-shirt and shorts were proper attire for a church service.
Blanton was one of 60 members of First Baptist Church in Galveston who worshiped for the first time since Hurricane Ike struck. But the worship services weren’t in the historic church on 23rd Street.
Instead, the evacuatee congregation worshiped in the chapel of Carnes Funeral Home in Texas City.
“This was very important,” Blanton said. “For a while, I didn’t even have my Bible. I needed this. I was depressed, and I needed the Lord right now.”
Blanton and her husband, Lee, rode out the storm on the island. Ike washed away much of what they owned. It did not wash away her faith, however.
After finding her precious Bible, Blanton and her husband ventured off the island for the first time since Ike’s landfall.
Holding services the weekend after a disastrous storm is a part of the history of First Baptist Church. A week after the 1900 Storm destroyed the church’s building on Avenue I, the congregation gathered as an example of faith.
One hundred and eight years later, the message was not much different.
“What is lost is the use of the building for a while,” said the Rev. Ray Meador. “It’s going to be tight financially (to refurbish), but it’s still a great auditorium.”
That led Meador to his sermon theme.
“Look at what’s left more than what’s lost,” Meador told the congregation after reading from the Book of Nehemiah.
“I preached basically this same sermon after Hurricane Rita, about rebuilding your life when you have lost everything,” Meador said. “Rebuilding is hard work, but you have to look at what God has for you.”
Meador also had a message for his congregation. Don’t go it alone.
“We have to receive help from others and refuse to be discouraged so that we can continue our mission or bringing more people to God,” said Meador.
That outpouring of support is already coming in as churches from across the state have made pledges to help First Baptist members get back on their feet personally and to help rebuild the church.
Meador and his wife having taken up residence as guests of the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texas City.
With that outside help, the church’s mission, said Meador’s wife, Sherry, will continue despite the destruction of Ike.
She went down a list of outreach and ministry programs First Baptist Church manages and insisted they would continue.
She said the missions and outreach programs of other island churches would continue.
“We are going to make it through this,” she said. “We are not going to give up. The missions of these historic churches, all of them, are too important, and we cannot let that die.”
Rusty Carnes said he wanted to bring some normalcy back to the church.
“The church needed to meet together for strength and encouragement,” he said. “Everyone seems to be walking around in a daze — people need their family, their church.”
One of Meador’s texts was not from holy writ. The pastor paraphrased a sign he had seen in front of Gaido’s restaurant.
“We will come back,” he said. “And so will this island.”
