LOS ANGELES (BP) — Even as Southern California wildfires continue to burn, Southern Baptists have begun early relief work.

California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief chaplains are deployed and serving, and more will be deployed soon, according to information from Send Relief Crisis Response Director Coy Webb.

Webb told Baptist Press Monday (Jan. 13) that Send Relief has sent initial funds to assist in the response and has fire clean-up supplies ready for shipment to California to be used by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) teams. Volunteers also are building 1,000 “crisis buckets” to be distributed to fire survivors.

“Send Relief is ready to offer additional support to California SBDR, Southern Baptist churches in the affected area and our Send Relief LA Ministry Center when appropriate to help fire survivors recover,” Webb said.

One of those local churches is Story City Church in Pasadena, where Jared Osselear is pastor. During the Sunday morning service Jan. 12, Osselear offered encouragement to church members.

“There is healing hope in Jesus and in community,” he said. “The Bible says the early church community was known for the way they cared for each other and the people around them. And that’s honestly what we need to be as well.”

He reminded congregants that the church’s response will be ongoing.

“In just a short time, most of the world’s attention will not be on this area any longer,” he said. “When it actually comes time for the cleanup, for the restoration, for the wading through the trauma, for all the stuff that is still yet to come, that’s when a lot of the attention will be off of us. Our response is most important not just now but for the foreseeable future.”

Story City Church will be a staging area for California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, he said. Texas Baptists also have plans to send a shower unit and 50 cots to the church. Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., plans to purchase commercial-grade kitchen appliances so Story City is ready to provide meals for large groups.

“The next time we have any sort of disaster, we will have the ability to shelter anybody that’s here and care for them, feed them, love them,” Osselear said.

A team from First Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., was already in Los Angeles to volunteer at the ministry center when responding to the fires superseded their initial plans.

“We’re here sharing the gospel, trying to be the hands and feet of Christ,” said Steve Smith, associate pastor for college, young adults and discipleship at First Baptist Jackson. The team is distributing food and other supplies, including face masks due to the heavy smoke.

The fires have destroyed at least 12,000 structures and taken at least 24 lives. Twenty-three people remain missing, a number that is likely to rise.

The Palisades Fire and the Eaton fire both remained largely uncontained Monday, even as winds are expected to pick up again by midweek. Any sort of major SBDR response is out of the question until after the fires are out, Webb told BP.

“FEMA has declared all the fire sites hazardous,” he said. “This means that they will need to complete Phase 1 before any organization will be allowed into the area to begin clean-up. This cannot begin until fires are out. This probably will result in fire cleanup with SBDR teams not allowed to begin for four to six weeks after fires end. Teams are ready but just waiting for clearance to enter the area once fires are completely contained and Phase 1 is completed by officials. California and Arizona SBDR have teams ready with a host of other states ready to offer further support if needed.”

Webb said the best way to help right now is through prayer and financial gifts to Send Relief and California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

“Please pray for those affected as many of them have lost their homes, and for those that have lost loved ones,” he said. “Pray that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and Send Relief can bring help and hope in the midst of the devastation.

“We stand ready to respond as soon as the fires are controlled and officials allow teams into the affected areas.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Laura Erlanson is managing editor of Baptist Press.)