Minutemen Bring Relief into Mississippi

Minutemen Bring Relief into Mississippi

Here is a report from Coach Dave covering our first foray into the southern part of hurricane stricken Mississippi to meet the needs of the folks there.  This picture clearly portrays the incredible miracle from God.  Inmates distributing food, the Mayor of Mendenhall directing traffic, the police helping the Mayor, and OSA and the Minutemen from Ohio proclaiming Christ from a sound system located on the OSA RV directly behind the camera.  When disaster comes the lines of separation between church and state totally disintegrate.  The state actually helped the church to proclaim Christ.  Several of the prisoners gave their hearts to Christ.  The Mayor of Mendenhall, all of the police, and every one of the prisoners joined us for prayer at the close of the day.  The Mayor and the sheriff were so overcome with the generosity of Christians from all over the country that their eyes welled up in tears. 

I have an idea that God Himself was well pleased with His church. 
~Flip

Because of the your generosity Coach Dave, David Ford, Mark Yontz and Jim Thornton have successfully completed the 1st Pass The Salt Ministries delivery of food to the hurricane ravaged citizens in Mississippi. On Wednesday evening, Pastor Art Willhite, The Breadman, loaded a 24-foot box truck full of food and beverages, and on Thursday morning the four hearty Minutemen embarked on the 14 hour trip to Florence, Mississippi and to our brothers and sisters in need. Although our focus was the High Place, where Pastor Butch Bergett was housing over 250, we found more than we had bargained for. The needs in small towns all around the area were staggering. We were able to deliver the nearly $40,000 in free food to the desperate citizens in the community of Mendenall, Miss.

Because of the hurricane, this small village in Central Mississippi had been without power for 5 days. No food, no water, no fuel, no stores open... a catastrophe in the making. We were able to contact the mayor of this small town and the local police set up a distribution center where we were able to hand out both the food and the Gospel. Be sure to check out the photos posted here on the website! The Red Cross hadn't been there... Nor the Salvation Army... Nor FEMA... but your donations were in the bellies of the needy within 24 hours!

We have just begun. The Lord had some Divine appointments in store for us. We now have contacts on the ground in New Orleans, as well as a network throughout Mississippi , who stand ready and waiting to distribute the truck-loads of supplies that we are going to send. Just yesterday, through the efforts of WHIZ in Zanesville, Ohio, 2 semi-trucks loaded with food and clothing has been collected. WHIZ has asked Pass The Salt Ministries to oversee the shipping of these donations from the people in Zanesville to our distribution stations in the blighted area. We are currently building the network on the ground in the south. Members of Operation Save America are in Mississippi stand ready to distribute the donations when they arrive... along with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We salute the efforts of the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, but we have a unique opportunity to hand-off from Christians in Ohio to Christians in Mississippi and allow you to see the tangible results of your donations. We will be sending more Minutemen and women to the area in days ahead, as the Spiritual needs are enormous. If you are interested in a short missions trip to the area, we will be providing such an opportunity soon. Things are happening fast...and we are working to make plans to deal with the massive need.

Our financial needs are going to be on-going. We are about to launch donation centers around the state, but must then come up with the finances to ship the product south. Truck, driver, fuel, etc will cost in the neighborhood of $2000 per trip. The financial support that we have received has been awesome, enough to cover 3 more trips, but we ask that you please continue to tell your friends about our efforts and ask them to send a contribution today! Children are without food NOW ... time is of the essence.

Please stay close to this web site as we update our efforts. What a great opportunity for the church to be the church! Let's help people turn to Christ as supplier, and not the government!

Do you have a CDL license... or a tractor trailer? Do you know of anyone who does and would be able to help us with this monumental task? It is going to take all of our efforts. Please stand with us.

The Minutemen
www.minutemenunited.org