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Dixon's overall vision is event-driven, but his modus operandi is detailed organization, like what he found in the Navy. The Baptists have almost everything color-coded and computer-counted ("35,422 showers provided!"). White hats direct the blue hats who direct the yellow hats and everyone else.

Their efforts are specialized, focusing on food preparation and certain types of cleanup. One crew drives up with a tractor-trailer that breaks down into cooking stoves, cafeteria-sized mixing pots, washing basins, and water-storage units. A communications crew and truck shoots up a short-wave antenna and uses cell-phone connections for e-mail. Another group rolls up with a bathroom, shower, and laundry unit. Chain saw and clean-up crews arrive with their modules.

At night, the Southern Baptists gather to talk about the day, letting the emotions flow, and this is followed by prayer. The leaders say this practice is critical because of the stress of disaster relief. That stress may include the difficulty of working outdoors in extremely hot weather and the emotional drain of seeing so many hurting people day after day.

As rescue operations proceeded, stories began to emerge. In the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, many survivors credited unlikely heroes who rescued them or gave them shelter.

In Biloxi, 13-year-old Phillip Bullard leaped to action as adults panicked when water rushed through every wall of their home. A neighbor, Michael Lee, said that the storm started to "sound like a howling wolf." An elderly neighbor who had experience with several hurricanes said he knew that something unusually fierce had arrived as "everything started to shake and rattle like I have never heard it before."

The young man cradled the youngest child, floated the oldest adult out the window, and coaxed his twin sister to abandon the house and trust him for guidance. He led his mother and grandmother over a path of almost floating furniture. All told, he saved more than a dozen people. His mother, Vanessa Posey, said, "I just thank God for Phillip. We would not be here but for the grace of God and the courage of my son."

In Pascagoula, Mississippi, a small city at the eastern edge of the storm, David Bardwell's friends at Light House Baptist Church tell how he saved 21 lives. Bardwell himself declines to talk about his heroics, preferring to give God the entire spotlight.

Bardwell stayed to watch over his mother's tenants who couldn't afford to evacuate. As the storm roared across town with a 22-foot storm surge and 125-mph winds, Bardwell heard people screaming for help. With water up to his neck and waves pounding, Bardwell persuaded his brother to go with him to help. Between them, they brought 21 survivors into a building on higher ground, First Baptist.

The Southern Baptists soon set up a disaster station there. Associate Pastor Dennis Smith, who stayed at the church during the storm, is an example of the many Southern Baptist heroes.

Smith, who suffers from the aftereffects of polio, is no newcomer to adversity. He was determined to best Katrina. He told CT, "Ninety percent of our members' houses were destroyed—it breaks the heart—but no one was killed."

Moving around via an electric scooter, Smith visited the ill and injured and talked to the devastated. When necessary, he would unbend with great effort from the scooter and walk to comfort the grieving—countless times each day.

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November 2005, Vol. 49, No. 11