One year sometimes stands out among all the years that preceded it. Texans on Missions had such a year in 2024, said Mickey Lenamon, chief executive officer.
“We’ve had great years of service in the past,” Lenamon said, “but last year stands out for the cumulative impact accomplished in helping people and leading them to Christ.”
Lenamon has been connected with the organization since its beginning in 1967, when his father helped found the organization. “Some people like to talk about the good old days,” the CEO said. “But these are the good old days for us.
“We have made ourselves available to God and for service through His churches, and that willingness to serve means God keeps raising us up to help others,” Lenamon said.
Disaster relief is the largest of TXM’s core ministries — plus water, builders, and missions and discipleship — and 2024 proved a challenging year. Volunteers deployed in response to 18 disasters in 25 sites, including five outside of Texas.
Between large relief efforts, teams served locally, meeting the needs of their neighbors. One team did 64 local projects by itself in 2024.
Frances Randall, report coordinator for TXM Disaster Relief, released 2024 numbers Jan. 8. “We were deployed 235 days (65% of the year) helping and sharing the love of God,” she said. That included 131 days straight from April to August 2024, with overlapping deployments.
“Better yet,” Randall said, “we had over 5,000 ministry contacts and 63 professions of faith! Praise God!”
Volunteers are the centerpiece of TXM Disaster Relief. In 2024, they contributed 128,407 work hours to TXM projects, Randall’s annual report said. That is more than double TXM service in 2023.
“The many disasters last year stretched us,” said David Wells, TXM Disaster Relief director. “But our volunteers didn’t bat an eye. They would work hard, think they were about to get some rest and then have to go right back out again.
“That’s commitment,” Wells said. “It’s commitment to our Lord and to serving people who are experiencing terrible needs. It is amazing to watch these men and women at work.”
Numbers do not fully capture the work done, but they do illustrate the scope of the work through TXM Disaster Relief. Here are totals for different aspects of the work:
- Bibles distributed — 1,125
- Meals prepared — 202,682
- Tear-out jobs — 104
- Pressure wash — 34
- Mold remediation — 120
- Ashout sifting — 37
- Structure demolition — 53
- Debris removal — 44
- Chainsaw jobs — 1,157
- Heavy equipment jobs — 172
- Temporary roofing — 53
- Showers provided for volunteers — 6,435
- Showers provided for the public — 5,657
- Laundry loads for volunteers — 3,591
- Laundry loads for the public — 1,999
- Children cared for — 306
- Bottles of water distributed — 53,844
- Packing boxes distributed — 5,874
- Teddy bears given away — 1