By BOB HIGH

“Even if you don’t know what you’re allowing us to do for the (Hurricane Katrina) refugees, I want to thank each one of you for your prayers, your concerns, your contributions and your manpower,” a minister from Irvington, Ala., told the congregation of Whiteville’s Trinity Baptist Church last week.

The Rev. Roger Bowers, a native of Iowa who “found himself” – in more ways than one – in Alabama 19 years ago and settled just southwest of Mobile, spoke during services at the Old Zion Wesleyan Church southeast of Tabor City and at Trinity.

Bowers and the Rev. DeBruce Nelson of Biloxi, Miss., pastor of a Holiness congregation, and their congregations and communities have received help from the group from Columbus County who have made several trips to the Gulf Coast to cook and distribute food and rebuild homes and churches.

Nelson also spoke to both the Trinity and Old Zion Wesleyan congregations on March 19.

Bowers had the congregation in the palm of his hand for more than 40 minutes with his unique delivery of God’s message of love, truth and trust.

He opened his sermon by grabbing a “gitar” and then apologized for wearing a “suit coat” because he didn’t usually preach in such a uniform. Bowers, who has a wide, appealing grin along with his open-armed personality, then performed his own musical composition from Proverbs.

Within three minutes the congregation was singing the song from the Old Testament verses as Bowers injected scat into his music.

“You know it’s strange, but there are my people who know all of Garth Brooks’ songs than they know verses and messages from the Bible. You need to read your Bible and remember what it says, then live like the examples you find there.”

‘…stay atuned’

Bowers said he “met Jesus” 19 years ago in Alabama where he had stopped for an unknown reason for about three months on his way to Panama City, Fla., where he was going to work as a male stripper.

“God renovated my church, and people from this church in Whiteville helped make it happen. I met Jesus 19 years ago, and Jesus is my King. He’ll save anyone. I like to stay ‘atuned’ so well that when He whispers my name I’ll hear Him.

“Two weeks after Katrina I had 70 refugees at my church. Now, that’ll test your patience. We had 500 cars a day streaming through our parking lot and we distributed food, clothing, personal items and anything we could find.
“We’d been doing this for six weeks, and much of the food that was cooked every day was done by Randy Thomas and his crew working out of Trinity,” Bowers pointed out.

“One day during the sixth week a man with a badge from the Alabama governor’s office came into my church and told me that I’d couldn’t continue to give away food, water and all the other stuff. He told me we’d have to quit.

Showed his own ‘badge’

“I told him I also had a badge and it was pinned over my heart. I asked him where he’d been for six weeks. I told him that if he didn’t want to go to work to get out. He didn’t know exactly what to say, and he left and I never heard another word from anyone about stopping what we were doing.

“Why do you have to have a board meeting to figure out how to feed the hungry?” Bowers asked the appreciate congregation.

“My wife (Linda) and I gave away a lot of our own clothes. There’s a 72-year-old woman walking around down there wearing my Harley shirt.”

Bowers described his life before God’s call. “I did 8-balls of cocaine and drank a case of beer every day, plus I also did my part of the marijuana thing. Then, one day, for someone unknown reason, I started looking in the Bible and I joined a ministry and got the foundation for the rest of my life.”

He then switched gears and spoke directly to each of the 100 people in the Trinity church. “Without you guys we’d be in a world of hurt,” he said with tears in his eyes and a choking voice.

“They’ve come from Alaska, Hawaii, the Sudan, and Columbus County. And, they ain’t quit coming, thank the Lord. You guys won’t quit and we all love you for it.”

Bowers stated, “Faith says it, God does it. I’ve seen things in the last eight months you wouldn’t believe. All of us serve the same Jesus, and when He calls its time to go.

“That’s what Trinity Baptist (and Old Zion Wesleyan) did. One day this big burly man named Randy Thomas called and I heard a voice ask if we needed cooks. Now, you never say no to anyone who wants to cook.”

Bowers told about seeing Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Mennonites, Wesleyans, Holiness, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons and others for six weeks before he saw anyone from FEMA or any other government agency.

“Now, people from this ministry at Trinity are rebuilding houses in Bayou La Batre, the community five miles south of Irvington. We had a wall of water 15 feet high tear up everything, but with the help of people working out of this church, we’re rebuilding piece-by-piece, heart-by-heart,” Bowers noted.