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Pastor John Newton has seen nothing but blessings since Hurricane Ike ripped the metal roof off the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Alta Loma in Galveston County.

None of the members were injured or lost their homes. People who ignored the church for years now are coming there for help. Churchgoers are reaching out to their neighbors like never before.

A Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief unit arrived at the church two days after the hurricane. After covering the damaged roof with blue plastic to prevent further damage to the interior of the sanctuary, crews fanned out across the town of Santa Fe to cut fallen trees, make emergency repairs to damaged roofs, and share the everlasting hope of the Gospel. Almost immediately, God gave our team an opportunity to lead a distraught mother and her son to faith in Jesus Christ.

Church members joined in. A group of women passed out ice to needy families while youth canvassed the streets to tell residents about the help that was available at the church.

The relief work “has given our church a new presence in our community,” Pastor Newton said.

Samaritan’s Purse is working along the Gulf Coast to minister to the victims of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. We set up disaster relief units at churches in four locations in Texas and Louisiana, and also deployed emergency teams to Haiti and other islands in the Caribbean that were devastated by the same storms.

Considering how much worse the storms could have been, Pastor Newton wants his congregation to be thankful. He has been preaching through Philippians and at his church’s first worship service following Ike, his text was Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”