Pastor's Posting

Still Work to Do

Just before Christmas I traveled to Biloxi, MS with Jeff Card, David Richey, Amy Nash, Mark Harms, Greg Price, Donnie and Lesli Robertson. The trip affected me in many ways, and there is still much work to do.

Jeff and David led us to the work as part of their ministry, Relief Now Network, a ministry they started after their first trip to Biloxi right after Katrina hit. They initially worked with Hands On USA, and we got our first work project through that group.

Our first day's work was at a house that had not been touched since the hurricane hit the coast. Katrina hit August 29. We walked into the house December 19. Nothing had been touched, and everything lay as it did when the 15-ft ocean surge subsided days after the storm. Our job was to gut the house so the in habitant, a 77-yr-old grandmother, could get it inspected to be rebuilt. The work was hard, smelly, and messy, but our team worked six straight hours (expect a lunch break with MREs) to gut the house. Jeff estimated the labor alone for that work was valued between $3k and $5k. Now that's a return on investment.

Picture of gutting house in Biloxi That's Amy and Mark.

The next day we served at a relief worker camp for the area around Kiln, MS, a town 12 miles from the coast but still received wind and surge damage (up to 5 feet of water). The place is called Camp Costal, and it is made up of relief workers from different agencies who have decided to stay up to three years in order to complete the work of helping others out of this mess. We built tents, cut and hauled off trees, and began to build relationships with the staff and workers from WA, ME and NY.

Camp Costal Cleanup That's David and Jeff hauling off fallen trees.

We helped clean up around the camp in the morning, and then went to a trailer home to clean up what was left of the trees and trailer next to him. We could have spent another week on that street alone. The owner was a 64-year-old single man who had lived in on the property for all of his life. The house his father built was destroyed by the hurricane. Mark prayed for him, and we went back to camp for another dinner of soup and MREs around a camp fire.

What was left of the trailer in Kiln That's Lesli on the trailer.

The next morning we toured the coast of Bay St. Louis and Waveland. The devastation is indescribable, and it will take years to rebuild that area. I became numb as we drove west to New Orleans and we never left scenes of the affect of the hurricane. The human, physical and spiritual needs continue to be overwhelming.

A street in Bay St. Louis

In New Orleans, we searched a home in St. Bernard Parish for family keepsakes of a man Jeff knew of through a network connection. The daughter was elated at the few family items we recovered from the destroyed house. The entire neighborhood was a disaster area. We could have started on that home and worked until today and not be near finished with what needs to be done in that parish.

Later that morning we helped clear a lot next to a one-room home of a family of six so FEMA could supply a trailer for the family to live in. This didn't take long, but we had a chance to be a witness to the street muscians who had become squatters in the abandoned house. One of them asked as Jeff was giving him the last of the MREs, "You guys Christians or something?" We said yes, we were, and that we were there because of Jesus' love.

Picture of the house and lot to be cleaned

We returned to our homes and habits affected by what we had seen and done. There is still so much work to do. Jeff and David are organizing another trip in March. You can contact them at Relief Now Network. I hope to join them on this one.

Our high school students will make a trip in June with a group called Mission Discovery to help with the recovery. You can get information on that trip from Mickey Nierdieck.

I want you to continue to pray for those affected by this disaster and find ways here and there to serve those in such grave need. Remember I said once, "You are never more like Jesus than when you serve." I believe that now more than ever.

End of Year Giving
Thank you for your gracious giving in the month of December. We asked that you consider a 13th-month gift, and many of you participated. Our total giving in December was over $150,000, which allows us to start 2006 in the positive in our General Fund. You also gave over $3,500.00 to Helping Hands and many gifts were distributed to those affected by hurricanes in Biloxi, MS. May God continue to provide as we live “with open hearts and open hands.”

Posted by Gene Wilkes at January 5, 2006 08:44 AM