By CBF Communications

DECATUR, Ga.—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues to monitor Hurricane Dorian and prepare for a response. The current focus of CBF Disaster Response is the Bahamas, particularly CBF partner congregations in the Abaco Islands, said CBF Disaster Response Director Rick Burnette.

Burnette encouraged Cooperative Baptists to pray for sisters and brothers in the Bahamas and requested financial donations to support CBF’s response efforts here. CBF Disaster Response will update on needs and appropriate response as that information becomes available.

CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley also issued a call for prayer on Sunday for those in the path of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas:

“This morning as many of us across the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathered for worship in our congregations, we received word that Hurricane Dorian was approaching the Bahamas and that it held devastating power,” Baxley said. “Hurricane Dorian made landfall this afternoon on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas as a category five storm, one of the most intense in the history of Atlantic hurricanes. I ask all of our Cooperative Baptist Fellowship community to join me in praying for all of the people of the Bahamas, and especially for our CBF Bahamas partner congregations as they experience the terror of this storm.

“Our CBF Disaster Response team, along with other CBF leadership, will be in contact with leaders CBF Bahamas congregations as soon as possible and we will communicate regularly with the larger Fellowship concerning the situation there and the urgent needs that will arise. We will also continue to monitor the path of this storm as it moves beyond the Bahamas and provide additional updates. For now, our calling is to pray fervently for the safety of our sisters and brothers in Christ in the Bahamas and to give generously even now toward the relief efforts that will be needed.

“In I Corinthians, Paul reminds us that, in the body of Christ, if one member suffers, all suffer. Not even two months ago, Baptists in the Bahamas were gracious and generous hosts to the global Baptist community in the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance. Now we are called to pray for these sisters and brothers in a time of tremendous difficulty and stand prepared to respond.

In these hours, may the prayer of Psalm 46 be powerfully fulfilled among our fellow Christians in the Bahamas and all people there:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear though, though the earth should change,
Though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble with its tumult….
The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

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CBF is a Christian network that helps people put their faith to practice through ministry eff­orts, global missions and a broad community of support. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.