Walking with God in Broken Places  •  Chapter 17  •  HEC-017

Return to Iran:
Bam Earthquake 2004

December 26, 2003 – February 2004  —  Bam, Kerman Province, Iran

Dossier HEC-017
Date Jan–Feb 2004
Location Bam, Iran
Status Review
Executive Summary

Ministry Continuity Across a Thirteen-Year Diplomatic Freeze

At 05:26:52 local time on Friday, December 26, 2003, a magnitude 6.6 (Mw) earthquake struck the city of Bam in Kerman Province, southeastern Iran, killing tens of thousands and destroying approximately 85 percent of the city's buildings within twelve seconds (USGS Earthquake Hazards Program; UN Press, 2004). Iran's Crisis Management Organization confirmed on the earthquake's 17th anniversary in 2020 a final toll of 34,000 killed and 200,000 injured (Wikipedia / Iran Crisis Management Organization).

For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian government formally requested international humanitarian assistance, and more than sixty countries responded (EBSCO Research Starters). Among the responders was the same Christian humanitarian apparatus — Global Partners, the Iranian Christian Fellowship, Texas Baptist Men — that had first entered Iran in 1991 to serve Kurdish refugees during Operation Desert Shower (see HEC-016). Baptist Press announced on December 31, 2003, that "an initial team of Southern Baptist men is headed there to help meet physical needs" (Baptist Press). The Alabama Baptist State Convention deployed the region's only available airlift kitchen first; Texas Baptist Men, commanded by Dr. John LaNoue Sr. at age 70, relieved the Alabama crew on January 13, 2004, and operated two refugee camps producing 12,000 meals a day for more than a month, with Dr. John LaNoue Jr. (pediatric surgeon) and Dr. Kerfoot Walker (retired internist) leading the camp medical clinic.

6.6 Moment Magnitude of the Bam Earthquake
34,000 Confirmed Deaths (Iran Crisis Mgmt. Org., 2020)
85% Of Bam's Buildings Destroyed
12,000 Meals Served Daily by the TBM Camps
70 Dr. John LaNoue's Age at Deployment
13 yrs Between Operation Desert Shower and the Bam Response

Why This Chapter Matters

The Bam earthquake response in 2004 is the clearest evidence in the entire Walking with God archive of ministry continuity across a thirteen-year diplomatic freeze. The same Christian apparatus that entered Iran in 1991 to serve Kurdish refugees — Texas Baptist Men, the Iranian Christian Fellowship, Global Partners, the International Mission Board — re-entered Iran in 2004 because the relational and organizational trust built in 1991 had been preserved through prayer, correspondence, and personal commitment while official U.S.–Iran relations remained severed.

Dr. John was sent back because the people he had served in 1991 still remembered him. This chapter records the durability of relational ministry against the volatility of geopolitics, and documents the second known instance in the modern era of an American Christian humanitarian team operating openly inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Historical Timeline

Sequence of Events

  • 1991 Operation Desert Shower: Texas Baptist Men, including John LaNoue, serve Iraqi Kurdish refugees at Dolenav, Iran; the TBM airlift kitchen built in 1990 is left in Iran with the Iranian Christian Fellowship at the government's request.
  • Dec 26, 2003, 05:26 local A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes Bam, Kerman Province, at a focal depth of 10 km.
  • Dec 26–30, 2003 Iran formally requests international assistance for the first time since the 1979 Revolution; more than 60 countries respond.
  • Dec 31, 2003 Baptist Press announces that a Southern Baptist team is headed to Bam.
  • Jan 5, 2004 Field requests begin arriving for water pumps, chlorine pumps, bag filters, and UV tubes; Iranian government reports approximately 30,000 dead and 45,000 homeless.
  • Jan 9, 2004 TBM team departs Texas following a briefing at First Baptist Church of Lindale; travels through Dubai aboard a chartered Ilyushin aircraft.
  • Jan 12, 2004 USAID Fact Sheet #9 records the Alabama Disaster Relief kitchen serving 1,400–1,500 hot meals daily at the Green Camp.
  • Jan 13, 2004 Dr. John LaNoue's Texas Baptist Men team relieves the Alabama crew and takes command of camp operations.
  • Jan 15, 2004 The Alabama Baptist publishes a deployment record; SBC contributed $50,000 and Alabama Baptists $10,000 to the response.
  • Jan 23, 2004 ReliefWeb documents a Saudi Red Crescent medical airlift; 2,000 patients treated at the Saudi field facility.
  • Feb 4, 2004 UN OCHA and the Government of Iran issue revised figures: 43,000 dead, 30,000 injured, up to 75,000 homeless.
  • Mid-February 2004 The final TBM team rotation departs after more than a month of service; the Lord's Supper is observed on the Bam airport taxiway before the flight home.
  • Weeks after departure Per Dr. John's account, fifty Iranian Christian Fellowship workers are arrested and held for more than a month (uncorroborated in external sources).
  • Dec 26, 2020 Iran's Crisis Management Organization confirms the final death toll at 34,000, with 200,000 injuries, on the earthquake's 17th anniversary.
Key People

Principals in the Record

Dr. John L. LaNoue Sr. — Texas Baptist Men relief crew commander, age 70 at deployment; veteran of the 1991 Operation Desert Shower response and designer of TBM's first airlift kitchen (1990).

Dr. John L. LaNoue Jr. (M.D.) — Pediatric surgeon and instructor at Southwestern Medical/Parkland, age 42; served as camp medical lead alongside Dr. Kerfoot Walker.

Dr. Kerfoot Walker — Retired internist and longtime mentor to John LaNoue Jr.; co-medical lead at Bam who had earlier set up a Kurdish medical facility in northern Iraq in 1991.

Dr. Kaywin LaNoue ("Dr. L") — Ph.D. in education administration; organized the wives' prayer support network for the deployed team.

Abraham Shepherd — International Mission Board missionary, born in Lebanon and educated in Canada and the United States, fluent in four languages and ten dialects; led the Global Partners team on the ground and was appointed the camp's second-in-command by the Mullah of Kerman Province after telling him the truth about the group's Christian identity.

Bob Dixon — Executive Director of Texas Baptist Men throughout this era.

Tommy Puckett — TBM equipment and logistics coordinator for the deployment.

Mike Stroop — Creator of the Global Partners NGO in 1991, the same organizational front that reopened Iran for the 2004 response.

Sam Yeghnazar — Pastor of the Iranian Christian Fellowship in London; the same visa-broker network anchor from the 1991 Operation Desert Shower deployment.

Mike Harwood — Corsicana, Texas; provided emergency cash support for the deployment.

Dr. John's Witness

Voice 2 — Verbatim Testimony

  • “A terrible earthquake struck Iran at the ancient city of Bam, Iran on December 26, 2003. Bam was the epicenter. It was a 6.6 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale!”
  • “One man, to whom I spoke, lost twenty-two members of his family. Another family was having a reunion. All seventy-seven members of the extended family were attending and sleeping in the same building. They all died. An entire family was erased in seconds!”
  • “The Father's humor was demonstrated in the name, ‘The Alabama Disaster Kitchen.’ The only airlift kitchen available arrived with the first team of responders and when the Iranians read the name on the crates, they pronounced it as, ‘Allah ba ma.’ In Farsi that translates, ‘God is with us’! So, the group was welcomed with joy as ‘The God is with us kitchen crew’!”
  • “Abraham said that his group was Global Partners, a Christian group and that he was a Christian who had come to help the people of Iran. The effect was electric! Everyone jerked in a spasm of disbelief!”
  • “The Mullah said, ‘We are not stupid! We know that most of these NGOs are Christian organizations. They have been lying to us by not admitting this. You are the first one to tell me the truth! I admire your courage. You are the first honest one of these people I have seen. I am going to put you in charge of the refugee camp because you can be trusted.’”
  • “We had two secret weapons, our age and prayer! As a matter of fact, in my tent, I had prepared an area with a mat, which was my place of prayer.”
  • “The only way to lead a team like this, on a project like this, in a country like this, is on your knees. After all, this project was His, not ours. Therefore, we sought to be obedient instead of successful by our terms.”
  • “Once we were on the plane, I took some paper cups from our aircraft's cardboard lunch box, a bottle of grape juice and a folded loaf of flatbread from my day pack and we observed the Lord's Supper on the airport taxiway.”
  • “If serving Him should cause my death, it would not be simply a period signaling the end of the story, but it would be an exclamation mark at the end of my story of living for Him.”
Primary Sources

Source Record

Voice 2 — Primary Narrative Source

  • LaNoue, J.L. Sr. Walking with God in Broken Places. WestBow Press, 2010, Chapter 17: “Return to Iran: Bam Earthquake 2004.” First-person eyewitness account.

External Corroboration