Devastating Flooding in KY, ARITF, Army Rangers Hall of Fame

Crews are on the scene providing search and rescue assistance and support as residents of eastern Kentucky continue to recover from destructive flooding.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says 37 people are now confirmed dead from the devastating flooding in eastern Kentucky, and that the number of fatalities will continue to rise as more areas become accessible to search and rescue crews.

So far more than 1,300 people have been rescued, according to the governor.

Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief and DR teams from Tennessee, Alabama and other states are setting up operations to feed and begin damage assessment. Send Relief also has boots on the ground with feeding units, cleaning supplies, and cases of bottled water.

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Two Southern Baptist pastors with recent leadership experience in addressing sexual abuse in the SBC will fill similar roles with the Abuse Response Implementation Task Force (ARITF).

Marshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C., will be chair while Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla., will serve as vice chair, SBC President Bart Barber announced today.

Blalock served last year on the Sexual Abuse Task Force, whose report at the SBC annual meeting was widely accepted by messengers.

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Col. Pat Hash became the third Southern Baptist chaplain to be inducted into the Army Rangers Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Fort Benning in early July.

The induction came after 37 years of service in the Army, nine years in the infantry and 28 as a chaplain. He retired as a colonel serving his last assignment as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Chaplain. The honor is bestowed upon inductees by a board that’s made up primarily of their peers, a group of retired and active Rangers. The Hall of Fame is comprised of fewer than 200 Rangers.

During his brief acceptance speech, Hash highlighted three defining moments in his life: accepting Jesus as Savior, marrying his wife, Lynn, and deciding to join the Ranger community.

Much of Hash’s ministry was spent with the Army’s Special Operations unit.

Chaplain Hash and his family moved 26 times during his military career, a career he didn’t get serious about until a full year after he and his wife were married in 1973. Never once did his wife complain, Hash said, and her dedication and support was emblematic of the majority of military spouses.