Welcome to W.A.C.'s main page for news of the continuing ministry effort at the Houston Convention Center.

 

 

With our assigned task completed and after a special victory and recognition breakfast hosted by our friends at Second Baptist Church in Houston, our WAC Team departed Houston, just ahead of an expected mandatory evacuation order in anticipation of Hurricane Rita's scheduled Saturday afternoon landfall with category 4 class winds in Galveston, located some 45 miles south of Houston. National Southern Baptist Convention, and State Texas Baptist Men, and Southern Baptist of Texas Command Staff leadership all praised the WAC Team for its Command Leadership, hard work and team member dedication to excellence. Yet, along with those words of congratulations also came the request for our WAC Team to immediately remain on  a "Special Standby Alert" status for possible redeployment to another Special Disaster strike area as needed. The team immediately joined thousands of other Houston area residents as we evacuated the area, but this time with our sights firmly fixed on Wichita Falls and home.

 

 

Our WAC Disaster Relief Crew received word that the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston had successfully moved all of its Hurricane Katrina Evacuees into some form of temporary housing and was closing its operation effective with the evening meal on Tuesday, September 20th, On Tuesday afternoon, our WAC Crew held a very warm reception for our Aramark Kitchen partners and presented special certificates of commendation to Chef Edward De La Garza and his staff. During this single Disaster Relief Team Response, our WAC Team served in excess of 192,800 meals during this 17 day ministry assignment.  

 

Gene, Kathy, Houston Health Inspector, Chef Eddie, and David celebrate a job well done

 

Team Number 2 arrived back into Wichita Falls at about 3 PM this Sunday afternoon. With the exception of being extremely tired and somewhat worn, all were well and looking forward to a reunion with family and a good long night's sleep! 

 

 

Did I hear someone ask why we do this sort of thing?  No,  I didn't, everyone has been extremely supportive, but just as a Biblical  mandate to this ministry emphasis, why not go back and read Matthew 25 : 34 - 45  as tonight's special Bible readings. "Well done thy good and faithful servants!"

 

WAC Team # 3 with 7 new WAC volunteers headed to Houston this morning to continue the work at the GRB Convention Center.  Four present team members will be staying to help ease the transition and thereby giving us an eleven member team for the week. Our daily food count continues to drop with between 5,000 and 6,000 meals requested as the population of the Convention Center continues to drop. The new Team # 3 crew members include: Robert Slayton, Kathy Slayton, Pat Robbins, Chuck Nordstrum, Bill Mays, Mike Sherrill, Gary Miller, and our driver for the 24 hour turnaround trip - Dee Sykes. 

 

 

Bill and Robert prep chicken for the ovens

 

 

Pat, Tommy, Ronnie, Robert, Gene, Kathy, and Chuck take a rare coke break

 

We rejoice with more and more residents of the GRB Center as they are being moved out to new facilities and the word is that the Convention Center shelter here in Houston may be closed as soon as the middle of next week. Daily meals counts have dropped to about 10,000 meals requested per day.

 

 The guys whip up a big batch of Louisiana Roux for the Gumbo

The good work of our WAC Disaster Relief Feeding Team here at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston continues. The total food count and meals served totals have begun to drop with each new day as more and more of the Hurricane Katrina Houseguest are being moved out of this facility and into more permanent housing options.

 

It's Monday and I will be rotating back to Wichita Falls tonight and a few days in the WAC Office.  First, let me say a word of Praise to the Lord for His watchcare over all of our WAC Team members. Through last night, your WAC Team had served over 144,900 meals in just the first 6 days.  The word is  T E A M  and if you are reading this,  then we consider  YOU  a part of our team as well.  Along with the Lord's strength, we constantly depend upon your prayers and support.

 

 It's not unusual for families to try to make Sunday lunch the "special family meal" for the week and we certainly did our best with turkey, cornbread dressing, gibblet gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, and plenty of desserts.

 

 

Bob Mayfield and friends churn out the mashed potatoes

 

But, before you can eat it, you gotta cook it!   In this case, it took 200 whole turkeys to feed our family. That meant in order to be ready, we had to start cooking the 200 turkeys on Thursday . 

 

Did I mention that after they are cooked, they also had to be carved?   Yep, that's still 200 of them and Praise the Lord, all done successfully without any team member injury.

 

 

As mentioned yesterday, we welcomed our WAC Team # 2 to the Convention Center action. This week's team members included: Bob Mayfield, Kevin McIntire, Jimmy Jackson, Angie Ingram, Robert Duncan, Linda Simco, Dennis Simco, Terrel Silvers, Darrin McNeil, Glenn Miller, Sug McKee, Charles McKee, Larry Solsbee, and David Odom.  

 

 

Our Wac Disaster Relief Feeding Team continues to not only provide "plenty" of good hot food for our George R. Brown House Guest, but we are doing in in style. That's "New Orleans Style",  or as you're more like to hear called around here, " Nawlins Style." 

 

Tonight's menu featured Chicken, Sausage, Crawfish, Crabmeat, and Shrimp Jambalaya. The folks here were so impressed that they brought in a real New Orleans Jazz Street Band for supper and a little parade. We are doing our best to be a part of a team that is trying to help these folks regain faith, strength, and hope that once soon they can "let the good times roll."

 

Tonight we welcome our WAC Team # 2 who have come to take over for a very weary Team # 1 starting tomorrow. This team Blue Hat captained by David Odom arrived in style themselves as they were chauffeured in aboard First Baptist, Burkburnett's new mini-bus. They certainly appreciated this special treat. Thanks, Bro. Bill and Thanks to you FBC Burk family, it was certainly Team # 2's pleasure.

 

 

Gene sends Team # 1 members Larry, Julaine, and J.D. home FBC Burk style

 

It is now 11:30 PM on Friday night. Today was a very challenging day as our WAC team served in excess of 24,000 meals ( probably closer to 26,000 ). Tonight alone we fried somewhere between 2400 to 2500 lbs. of catfish. No, that's not a mistake, that's over a ton of catfish alone not counting the fried okra and hushpuppies that completed the meal.

 

Tomorrow, on Sat., we will rotate in another 14 new WAC folks with David Odom coming in to take my place as our team's Blue Hat for next week. I am presently planning on being back in WF on Tuesday - Wed. at the latest.  

 

Please keep us in your prayers  for safe working conditions as well as our team travel. Tomorrow and Sunday, we will have two teams on the road. Team # 2 traveling to Houston 9/10 and Team # 1 coming home 9/11. All team members are in good health, no injuries at all, but a lot of very tired folks. Thanks again for your continued support.

 

 

 Frying up the Catfish

 

Hurricane Katrina Victims Relief Food Service continuing at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown Houston. Our WAC team, joined by a sea of other volunteers are continuing to work hard to make the GRBCC seem a little bit more like a "home away from home". 

 

One way our WAC team has tried to do this is by preparing food that has just a touch of Louisiana flavor. This week's menu will feature, among other things, red beans and rice with corn bread muffins, fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy and salad, spagetti with meat balls, salad with garlic bread, chicken and sausage jambalaya aith french bread, friend catfish with hushpuppies and fried okra, and on Sunday turkey with dressing with green beans are planned.

 

What no desserts?  NO, that is hardly the situation. Desserts served have included: cake, pudding, fruit, cheesecake, bread pudding with cream sauce, and Sunday's lunch will feature Louisiana's  Mardi Gras favorite offering, King Cake.

 

We hope you enjoy a few more pictures. We appreciate your continued prayers for us and even more importantly, our guests! 

 

Betty Lawrence begins production of enough meatballs for an army of hungry guests.

 

 

 

 LaVerne Boles, Julaine Jones, J.D. Jones and Ellery Lawrence lead a host of friends from Houston's Second Baptist Church in panning bread sticks.

 

 

 Cory Pepiton, Ellery Lawrence and Chef Tony of Aramark's Convention Center team prepare Red Beans and Rice with lots of Sausage.

 

 Yes, birthdays continue and this is Matik's Birthday party complete with friends, cake and a song!

 

 

As the days go by the numbers are reportedly decreasing in house. However, due to FEMA activities hosted at our site our actual meal numbers are multiplying as we feed hundreds lining up for the various relief programs. 

 

 

 Sleeping quarters are far from luxurious but all of our guests have their own bed and feel safe enough with the center's well run security to leave their things when they head out for the day.

 

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It is now 10:00 PM on Tuesday evening and our WAC crew has performed above and beyond the call to duty. Our team has presently been divided into three work shifts as follows: Shift One - 4 AM to Noon, Shift Two - 9 AM to 5 PM, and Shift Three - Noon to 8 PM. Everyone has done a superior job, all are in good spirits, good health, but tired from an extremely long and fast paced day. A sampling of today's activties have been included in the pictures below. Additional crews are being enlisted as the continuing need expands. Please continue to be in prayer for our team and the thousands of people that we will have the opportunity to serve.

 

Nate Adams and Mike Guillory prepare smoked sausage for lunch (at 5am)

 

 

Ellery Lawrence and Keith Lowry chop onions for red beans and rice.

 

Gene stirs the pot for the beans and rice.

 

 

Julaine Jones, Eddie Lawrence and volunteers prepare breakfast

 

Our Convention Center Guests arrive for lunch.

 

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Our WAC team arrived  about 5:00 PM this afternoon and have set up "house" thanks to the very warm hospitality of Second Baptist Church here in Houston, Tx. Our crew will be up early Monday morning opening a mass feeding kitchen capable of feeding up to 8000+ Hurricane Katrina victims at the George R. Brown Convention Center here in Houston. Inital victim refugee numbers in the Convention Center are expected to be at 3500 to 4000 and growing quickly. We ask for your continued prayers as we respond in His name to this great need and opportunity of service.   

 

Click here to view WHOU's news story on the refugees at the convention center and the resourses we'll be a part of providing.

 

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If you haven't already started praying, now would be a great time to start. Our WAC Field Kitchen has in the past stretched its individual serving capacity to just above 6000 servings per meal. This is certainly a GOD-sized opportunity and I'll have to admit that at this moment, I am a bit numb.  Yet GOD would not call on us to do something that with His help and guidance  we could not do.  We have been promised additional equipment to make these numbers possible. 5 convection ovens and two large commercial tilt skillets are scheduled to arrive in Houston early Monday morning.

In the last 90 minutes I have confirmed 15 WAC Team members  ( 12 men and 3 ladies ) who have commited to leaving from the WAC Associational lot at 7AM on this Sunday morning.  We will tow our WAC Unit to Houston, settle in, and be ready  to set up shop on Monday morning.  Please don't ask what's for supper Monday night, we haven't gotten that far just yet, but I'll bet it will be good! A little cajun seasoning on that anyone ?

I am including in this document the names of the fifteen WAC volunteers that have already committed to being a part of Team # 1:

Gene Pepiton, Blue Hat Team Captain

T. L. Cook, Head Cook

We will try to have additional information as available  sometime next week here on our WAC Association's new website at   http://www.wacmissions.net/ . It's new and so are we, but this should really test out our vision of its growing use within our WAC Associational Churches.

More infomation as it develops.

Gene Pepiton

W.A.C. Baptist Association