The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has been deployed to Granbury, Texas, after a series of tornadoes ripped through hundreds of homes on Wednesday night and left six people dead with more than 100 injured.

"It's always so difficult for survivors to comprehend the tragedy of a tornado, because everything happens so fast," said Jack Munday, international director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, in a statement. "You wake up in the morning with all of your plans before you, and by the time you go to bed at night your entire world has changed and everything you once knew has been destroyed. Please pray for those who lost everything in this series of tornadoes, and especially for the loved ones of the victims."

Rescue workers were still searching for seven missing people on Thursday, CNN reported, though it was not clear whether the death toll would rise. more >>

As tornado season begins in the United States, a major Christian humanitarian organization is providing families with a downloadable guide about disaster preparation.

Operation Blessing International announced Monday that they would be providing a free booklet known as the "7-Day Family Disaster Planning Guide."

"Historically, March marks the beginning of the peak tornado season in the USA. However, due to much colder temperatures than normal this winter, there were only 17 tornadoes in the month of March, the lowest in 35 years," says OBI. more >>

Members of a Jewish advocacy organization founded in 1906 have written a response to an editorial by The New York Times supporting a bill that would provide FEMA aid to houses of worship.

Bobby Lapin, chairman of the American Jewish Committee's legal committee, and Marc D. Stern, general counsel for the AJC, wrote a column published Wednesday regarding the matter.

"Disaster relief is an expression of social solidarity with victims, not a sophisticated method of transferring responsibility for sustaining religious institutions from the collection plate to the tax collector, the core point of separating church and state," wrote Lapin and Stern. more >>

A bill that would allow houses of worship to receive federal disaster aid easily passed Wednesday in the House of Representatives.

The "Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act" was passed under suspension of the rules, which meant it needed a two-thirds vote for passage. It easily met that threshold with 354 members voting in favor and only 72 voting against the bill. The bill will have to be passed in the Senate and signed by the president for it to become law.

"The House has decisively acted to correct this blatant unfairness. We now need the Senate to act," said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), one of the bill's sponsors, on the House floor. more >>

As families across the nation prepare their Thanksgiving Day dinners, victims of Hurricane Sandy can be thankful for the more than 1.2 million meals that have been served to them by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) volunteers since the storm hit.

In all, over 1,200 SBDR volunteers from 34 states and Canada have responded to provide disaster relief following the superstorm that ravaged the East Coast, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) reports in a disaster relief update on its website. These volunteers have also reported that 56 people have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ as a result of the organization's work.

But victims of the storm aren't the only ones who are glad the SBDR team is lending a helping hand. more >>

NEW YORK – Over two weeks after Hurricane Sandy ravaged beachfront areas in New York and New Jersey, churches have remained at ground zero providing aid to those who were affected the most by the storm.

Residents of Staten Island, N.Y., one of the areas hardest hit by Sandy, have seen the body of Christ unite during this time, putting denominational affiliation and theological perspectives aside to help those suffering.

Pastor Daniel Delgado, a first responder to Sandy and executive director of Third Day Missions, is a witness to this new unification. more >>