N.C. minister Dr. Daynette Snead Perez named as CBF Disaster Response leader

Published in CBF Blog on May 3, 2021. An online publication of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

By Carrie Harris

BY AARON WEAVER

DECATUR, Ga. — An innovative pastor, intercultural ministry entrepreneur and experienced disaster recovery specialist from North Carolina has been selected to provide leadership to the long-term domestic disaster relief and recovery work of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Daynette Snead Perez
Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead will serve as the manager of CBF Disaster Response in the United States, succeeding Rick Burnette. Burnette, who serves as a CBF field personnel in Fort Myers, Fla., has led the domestic disaster mitigation and response efforts of the Fellowship in collaboration with CBF state/regional organizations since June 2018. After three extremely busy years in the position, Burnette will focus full-time on engaging in the community-level food security efforts of Cultivate Abundance, a ministry he and his wife, Ellen, founded in 2017 to serve farmworker families in Immokalee, Fla.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018, Snead Perez joined the CBF Disaster Response team as a local response coordinator, mobilizing congregations and resources across the country to help the people of Trenton, N.C., rebuild their community.

She has held multiple ministry roles including associate pastor of First Chin Baptist Church in New Bern, N.C., a Burmese refugee congregation and leads an intercultural-focused ministry she founded called DIASPRA, LLC which equips pastors and congregations for community discipleship outreach and missional success through diversity and inclusion awareness and skills. Snead Perez is a Gardner-Webb University graduate, where she received her Doctor of Ministry degree in 2019. She also serves as past-chair of the Racial Justice and Equity ministry team for CBF of North Carolina and is a board member of Baptist Women in Ministry of North Carolina. 

Burnette noted Snead Perez’s qualifications and preparedness for this new role managing the Fellowship’s disaster response work.

“Daynette brings so much to CBF Disaster Response with her practical experience as a local response coordinator for Hurricane Florence recovery efforts from 2018-2020 and her involvement with the emerging post-disaster spiritual care initiative,” he said. “She also brings a pastor’s heart and has had considerable intercultural ministry experience.”

Javier Perez, CBF director of Global Missions programs and impact, also highlighted Snead Perez’s expertise and praised Burnette for his leadership.

“We are blessed to have the Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead Perez step into this crucial role, as she will bring an innovative approach and expertise to disaster response,” Snead Perez said. “Rick’s leadership has been transformative, and we look forward to building on the foundation and networks he formed.”

CBF Global Missions Coordinator Steven Porter expressed his gratitude for the leadership of Burnette over the past three years crediting him with rebuilding CBF’s disaster response infrastructure.

“With the leadership of a seasoned field personnel in Rick Burnette and the expert help of several CBF state and regional leaders, and a lot of hard work, we now have a clear philosophy, a tested model, and a great team of volunteer state/regional disaster response leaders, contractors and other partners,” Porter said. “As Rick now senses a call to focus more narrowly on the sustainable agriculture portion of his global missions field assignment, I can think of no one better suits to succeed him than Daynette. Through her background in business, real estate, pastoral care, intercultural ministry, diversity training and disaster response, the Holy Spirit has equipped her with uncommon gifts to lead CBF Disaster Response alongside our churches.”

“Multiple years of record-breaking storms have depleted our disaster response reserves. As a Fellowship, we need to give now and to give generously, so we can respond quickly when it matters most,” Porter added.

To support the ministry of CBF Disaster Response, visit www.cbf.net/dr.

Read a recent profile of Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead Perez here.

Published in Baptist News Global on May 10, 2021
By Jeff Brumley

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s new domestic disaster response manager sees a direct correlation between helping communities recover from catastrophes and helping society recover from systemic injustice.

Both missions require clergy, church leaders and congregations to build relationships that transform strangers into neighbors through dialogue and service, said Daynette Snead Perez, a Baptist minister and Charlotte, N.C., resident who replaced Rick Burnette in the CBF position May 1.

Connecting the dots between disaster response and intercultural ministry is no mere academic exercise but a lived experience for Snead Perez, a diversity consultant and author, past chair of the Racial Justice and Equity ministry for CBF North Carolina and former associate pastor at First Chin Baptist Church, a congregation of Burmese refugees in New Bern, N.C. She earned her chops in disaster relief work serving as a local CBF response coordinator after Hurricane Florence in 2018, a function that segued into a disaster relief specialist role with the Fellowship before beginning her current position. She also is a construction and real estate entrepreneur.

“Disaster response and intercultural ministry are opportunities to provide transformational change within the body of Christ.”

“For me, disaster response and intercultural ministry are opportunities to provide transformational change within the body of Christ,” she explained.

With the 2021 hurricane season fast approaching, Snead Perez said she has hit the ground running by meeting with CBF state and regional coordinators about disaster preparedness in their regions. She seeks to connect them with existing preparedness resources online, assessing needs and identifying congregations capable of being host churches for relief groups in future disasters.

Another immediate task has been jumpstarting the flow of church-based volunteer teams available not only for the upcoming season but currently in Lake Charles, La., which was hit by two hurricanes in 2020 and remains an active recovery zone. Teams were unable to visit last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A team from Kentucky recently worked in the city.

“We are working on getting teams to step up, and we are finding churches are inquiring more about how they can get involved,” she said.

Church-based volunteer groups provide vital functions in CBF’s long-term approach to disaster recovery. Depending on the skillsets of individual members, the teams may conduct cleanup and home and church repairs.

“Disaster response is not the transactional relationship of providing a service, then leaving town.”

But response goes beyond physical reconstruction to include post-event spiritual care to help disaster victims recover emotionally and spiritually, Snead Perez said. Visiting teams also are encouraged to engage with the community through worship when possible.

“Disaster response is not the transactional relationship of providing a service, then leaving town. It is a transformational ministry experience for everyone involved, where there is this reciprocal sharing of culture and ministry,” she said. “As we do that, resilience is built within the community and there are lasting relationships as a result of those visits.”

Those encounters can be powerful catalysts for sparking cross-cultural connections, Snead Perez said. “Intercultural ministry — that is what’s happening in disaster response. It’s how we can reach across cultural boundaries, social boundaries, class and ethnic boundaries for Christ.”

This is a topic she tackles in depth in her book, Church: What to Do When Everyone Is Like You, which is due for release this summer.

The volume draws on her disaster response experience, from her time as an African American minister in a Burmese congregation, and from her work through DIASPRA, the consulting ministry she founded to guide clergy, lay leaders and congregations through cross-cultural encounters.

“I wrote this book to show churches how to build relationships with people who are different than they are and to equip congregations to achieve unity in faith,” she said.

Snead Perez said she will employ the principles of intercultural ministry in her new role with CBF. Chief among those: Being the hands and feet of Christ. “In the ministry of disaster response, we are the body of Christ as we show up. Our image of God shows up in our actions and so God shows up when we show up.”

Snead Perez’ combination of skills was a powerful draw in her selection, CBF Global Missions Coordinator Steven Porter said in the announcement of her appointment.

“Through her background in business, real estate, pastoral care, intercultural ministry, diversity training and disaster response, the Holy Spirit has equipped her with uncommon gifts to lead CBF Disaster Response alongside our churches,” Porter said

Burnette, who held the position three years, said in the announcement that Snead Perez is beyond capable of handling the task ahead.

“Daynette brings so much to CBF Disaster Response with her practical experience as a local response coordinator … and her involvement with the emerging post-disaster spiritual care initiative. She also brings a pastor’s heart and has had considerable intercultural ministry experience,” said Burnette, who stepped down in order to focus his attention on Cultivate Abundance, a ministry he and his wife, Ellen, founded to serve farmworkers in Immokallee, Fla.

Published in Fellowship! Magazine: A publication of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Spring 2019

BY BLAKE TOMMEY

As Hurricane Florence stalled over Eastern North Carolina in September 2018, the Trent River swelled to a record level-an entire foot higher than during Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Residents of the quaint town of Trenton had little warning of impending flooding until the U.S. Coast Guard began banging on doors in the middle of the night, imploring people to evacuate. For days, the majority of Trenton’s homes and businesses sat underwater, soaking up irrevocable damage.

More than a week later the town’s residents, many of whom had lived in Trenton for more than 70 years, returned to their homes and the sopping wreckage inside to begin the slow work of rebuilding. That’s when the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship deployed Daynette Snead, associate pastor of First Chin Baptist Church in Ne Bern, NC., to mobilize congregations across the country to help the people of Trenton rebuild their community. Sead, who continues to coordinate CBF’s disaster response in Trenton, said she and her team quickly converged on the Haiti neighborhood (pronounced HEY-tie) where the town’s most vulnerable resided.

“Many of the flooded homes in Trenton were located in lesser-resourced areas, close to the river at lower elevations,” Snead explained.

“We identified one of those areas, Haiti, which has about 20 homes in a very small area. These properties had no experienced flooding since Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Flood insurance was an additional cost that most could not readily afford. However, we have been able to touch many, if not most of the homeowners in the Haiti area.”

First, Snead and her team had to locate Haiti’s families, many of whom had moved in with extended family in other parts of the state. Once they made contact, Snead met with residents and town officials to listen carefully to their needs and off CBF assistance as part of the solution in recovery, she said. The vast majority needed help clearing out damaged furniture, drywall, insulation and debris of their homes. That’s where more than 176 volunteers from congregations across North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky come in. Together, they logged nearly 2,000 hours over two months, clearing damaged property and prepping homes for repair.

One team from Zebulon Baptist Church even cleaned up and manicured Trenton’s community cemetery, complete with new flowers. Afterward, CBF hosted a Veteran’s Day BBQ lunch for the community to celebrate the newly reconditioned plot. Disaster response isn’t only about clearing wreckage, Snead said, It’s about caring for people at their most vulnerable.

“Yes, we’re completing disaster work. However, we’re ministering to people and we’re here to serve,” she said.

“We’re sharing conversations and letting the residents know we’re here to assist. I say to our volunteers, “You’ve heard the call and here you are. I know this is different, but this is ministry too. Even though we’re raking debris and ripping out drywall, we also have opportunities to sit down with someone whose life was disrupted and build relationships with each other.”

As of Thanksgiving, Snead and DBF had almost completed demolition and cleanup. Going forward, Snead explained, CBF is evaluating first needs for hom repair and organizing volunteer groups to install new drywall and insulation, supplies for which CBF and partner congregations are sharing the cost. Though most households in Haiti did not have flood insurance, CBF is also helping residents apply their disaster compensation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) toward repairing or replacing their HVAC systems, electrical systems or appliances. At that point, she said, homes will once again be livable.

No Matter where Trenton’s families are in the process of rebuilding. Snead said, CBF will be there to listen and to partner, even long after first responders have left, “It was a blessing when CBF came in, because people truly felt lost,” she explained. “Many didn’t know where to go, or what to do. Other organizations came in and helped as well, but we were the first ones to arrive, welcoming others and partnering with anyone who joined.”

In November, one Haiti woman reflected with Snead, commending the volunteers who helped her clear debris and clean up her home. “You’re the only one who’s coming back.” she said, “Everyone else is gone now. So we just thank God for you.”

That says everything about CBF’s presence, Snead explained - not only with disaster response, but in every way that we partner in ministry.

Published in the Nurturing Faith Journal and Bible Studies July - August 2019

BY RICK JORDAN

Published in the Gathering Magazine, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship North Carolina - Nov/Dec 2015 Issue

BY DAYNETTE SNEAD PEREZ