2026 Celebration Overview   

​The 2026 NMBDR Celebration will be held on Thursday-Saturday, September 10-12, 2026, at First Baptist Church in Ruidoso. The program includes two tracks of instruction that target those new to disaster relief as well as sessions for experienced volunteers. The program is found on the next page, which attendees are free to “mix and match” according to interests. We are focusing on several new topics this year:​

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• The theme of this year’s Celebration will be Creating a Culture of Compassion, an essential foundation for effective disaster relief. We will have three great plenary sessions – one each day – on this topic. Ed Greene will start by sharing his heart about compassion as the basis for all we do on Thursday. On Friday Sammy Simmons, National Projects Director for Send Relief, will present, “Living Out Our Ministry Call.” And on Saturday morning, Pastor Todd Sullens of FBC Ruidoso will teach about “Sharing Jesus When Life Falls Apart.” Compassion is not just a Godly trait we should all strive for. It is also the cornerstone of our new NMBDR 5-Year Strategic Plan.

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• We are teaching each module in our core competency series in Track A over the three days. Newcomers can focus on just those courses if desired, although experienced volunteers looking to expand their skill set are welcome. We will have leaders in each of our ministry areas leading these sessions, with ample time for discussions.

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• The Track B sessions are designed to dig a bit deeper into several topics important to our recovery teams. We have recently acquired a skid steer and manlift, which we offered operator training in May and will likely repeat on a periodic basis. At Celebration we will focus on how all volunteers can safely work around this heavy equipment. We are also rethinking our quick response mission and capabilities, which will be covered later during this track.

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• This year we will offer two sessions of the popular “Stop the Bleed” course during Celebration. Each class is limited to 12 students, so will require pre-registering with Nancy Faucett on a first come, first served basis. Often called “the CPR of bleeding,” the course teaches the public how to stop life-threatening bleeding until professional help arrives. We plan to offer this course at several locations after Celebration, so this will not be your only opportunity to gain such training.

 

 

Out-of-town attendees are welcome to stay at FBC Ruidoso during Celebration. We will set up “deployment style accommodations,” which many of you have experienced in past deployments there. Attendees are also welcome to stay in RVs parked at the church. Hook-ups will not be available, but facilities inside the church will be open to them as well. Attendees are also welcome to make their own arrangements at local hotels if desired​​​​​​.​