An Alabama church raised thousands of dollars Saturday morning with a combined pancake breakfast and rummage sale. Proceeds from the event will go directly to disaster relief for victims of the April 27 tornadoes.

In the immediate aftermath of the April 27 tornadoes that wreaked havoc on the South, Christians across the nation are opening their wallets to help. At the same time, disaster relief organizations associated with Churches of Christ are rushing resources to storm-ravaged communities. Click for links to ministries helping.

In a swath of twisters a week ago, winds stronger than 200 mph ripped away the front of the Hackleburg Church of Christ building in Alabama and ravaged the foundation, walls and roof, minister Mike Lane said. Bridget Renee Barnwell Brisbois, 34, a member of the Hackleburg church, died in the storm, Lane said. Her son, Mitchell, less than a month old, was with his grandparents and survived.

About 30 people — Christians and non-Christians alike — waited out the April 27 swath of tornadoes that killed hundreds across seven states in the basement of the Bethel Church of Christ, about four miles east of Athens, Ala., along U.S. Highway 72.
“About the best thing I can say is, they didn’t have a scratch. They were all safe and sound,” said minister Jimmy Clark told The Christian Chronicle. All around them, though, was destruction.

Find links to all the coverage by The Christian Chronicle of the April 27 tornadoes that killed hundreds and injured thousands in the South.

The Link student news website at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., reports:
An overnight storm killed four people in Arkansas, knocked down trees across campus and left much of the university without power. Chapel at 9 a.m. was canceled.
See more photos.

Harry Hames spoke briefly at the Delmas church and compared the trials of Haiti to the trials of Job in the Old Testament. “Why? Why the earthquake? Why the hurricane? Why the flood? Why the cholera? Why the demonstrations?” Hames asked, as Elmera translated his words into Creole. “God taught Job that it’s better to know God than just the answers.” “Suffering can strengthen our faith or it can destroy it,” Hames said. “We have to make the choice. I see by you being here that you’ve made the right choice.”

WSMV channel 4 news in Nashville, Tenn., ran a brief feature on the Haiti relief work of Nashville-based Healing Hands International.
Watch the video.
I am scheduled to be in Haiti later this week to see some of Healing Hands’ work in person. I will be following up on stories we published about Haiti in 2010:
Online exclusives from January 2010:
Quake claims up to 150 from one Haitian church
Churches send doctors, medicine, food to Haiti
Ministries collecting funds for Haiti relief
February/March 2010 issue:
‘Each one of us has lost someone in Haiti’ (report from Haitian …

I received a message from Botham S. Jean, a member of the L’Anse Road Church of Christ is in Castries, St. Lucia. The Caribbean island took a direct hit from Hurricane Tomas, as we reported. Here are some excerpts from Botham’s message: Hurricane Tomas has devastated our country, particularly the more southern, undeveloped parts of the country. Our major roads, rivers, water dam and water system — in addition to our agriculture and tourism industry — have all succumbed tremendously to the wrath of this hurricane.

As we wait for new reports from Haiti, one of our readers alerted us to a related disaster on the island of St. Lucia. The island nation of about 174,000 souls is part of the Lesser Antilles, southeast of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. About a week before Tomas skirted the coast of Haiti, the storm caused major damage to St. Lucia, a popular destination for cruise ships (and the site of the 2011 Caribbean Lectures for Churches of Christ). Tomas killed at least 14 people on the island, and Prime Minister Stephenson King estimates that it could take half a billion dollars to repair the damage, according to caribbean360.com.