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The collaboration between Christian groups has impressed Pass Christian's politicians. Christians represent 95 percent of relief volunteers, said Lou Rizzardi, Pass Christian's Ward 1 alderman who coordinates them.

"Faith-based organizations come in here much more organized, ready to go to work," Rizzardi said. "They don't ask for anything." Mennonites re-roofed Trinity Church, an Episcopal congregation. The Assemblies of God donated a huge tent to shelter Crusade volunteers. Pass Christian's largest volunteer presence is Campus Crusade. Of Todd's efforts to mobilize manpower, Rizzardi said, "I don't know what I would have done without him."

Crusade volunteers mucked out Trinity's sanctuary and cemetery. They salvaged chunks of stained glass windows and bottles of Communion wine. They also unearthed Trinity's Communion "breadbox" that vanished in Hurricane Camille of 1969.

At any given time, up to 300 Crusade volunteers are working. About 4,000 have become involved through Crusade recruitment and word of mouth. Crusade welcomes whosoever will: male or female, young adults, retirees, church groups of mixed ages, and their non-Christian friends. Some have returned to help.

Crusade volunteers share the gospel with every family they help. Nonbelievers are far more receptive to the message after seeing faith in action.

Plenty of work remains. Some homes are missing a porch. Others have lost outside walls. Some have only the porch left standing. Others floated off foundations and landed elsewhere. Splintered lumber is strewn everywhere. In salvageable homes, the stench of black mold and rotting carpet permeates structures that were submerged in seawater for 12 hours.

DEET-resistent gnats, more prevalent than ever, leave welts that itch and sting weeks later. Razor wire, used to block roads immediately after the storm, remains strewn along railroad tracks. Dreamlike morning fog that rolls over the community might seem romantic if it didn't envelop a vision from hell. Cleanup alone will take two years. Rebuilding Pass Christian will take much longer.

University Crusade groups and ten Christmas Conference gatherings nationwide have promoted spring-break work trips to the region. Rick Amos, Crusade's Katrina relief coordinator, told CT that during spring break, "There will be just as much evangelism in Pass Christian and New Orleans as there will be in Panama City [Florida]."

Crusade groups and churches nationwide are raising funds and supplying tools and materials in this seat-of-their-pants effort. Businesses have provided gifts in kind. Todd asks homeowners where his volunteers are rebuilding to pay for supplies as they can. Volunteers bring tools with them and then leave them behind for the next crew.

"God brings people together with the skills," Todd said. "We can always find somebody to come figure it out." Like Todd, whose tractor driving now accompanies his sharing of the Four Spiritual Laws. And Greg Porter, who answered God's call to employ his cooking skills. He's committed to keeping God's Katrina Kitchen open as long as need remains for it.

For nearly everyone involved in the relief efforts, the 2005 hurricane season has changed their lives in unexpected ways.

For Colby, a high-church Episcopal priest of a church with a million-dollar endowment, accepting aid has been an exercise in humility. "I was giving out money all the time to the poor," Colby said. "Now I'm waiting in line with them."

As the Great Commandment and the Great Commission meet in Pass Christian, what may prove most permanent is the life change among those involved in relief and rebuilding efforts.

Deann Alford, based in Austin, Texas, is a CT senior news writer.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Our full coverage of Katrina Relief is collected on our site.

The Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Press has a collection of its articles on hurricane relief efforts. Associated Baptist Press also has a collection of its own stories.

Pictures of Campus Crusade's Katrina relief efforts, as well as ways to give or volunteer are available from Crusade's website.

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March 2006, Vol. 50, No. 3