To: [log in to unmask]

My dear Christian friends,

Yesterday I walked in an alien world.  In this place winds had blown
250-300 miles per hour.  The few standing trees had no leaves or needles or
bark.  Grass was pulled out of the ground and a strange bare earth
stretched for miles.  Cars and trucks were unrecognizable twisted flattened
ribbons of metal.  Houses and churches were heaps of debris - or vaporized
- or compressed into stage-props.  Teams are searching in rubble for a
missing people - and the smell of death drifts in the air.  Yesterday I
walked in an alien world that used to be the quiet rural town of Bridge
Creek, Oklahoma, but now has lost 750 houses and at least 16 lives.

On Monday a monster series of tornadoes swept across Oklahoma and Kansas.
The most deadly twisters since the 1940s, it stayed on the ground for an
hour over a thirty mile stretch in Oklahoma, with sustained winds between
250 and 300 miles per hour.  Statistics continue to change, but thousands
of houses have been damaged or destroyed in these two states, the death
toll continues to climb, and many people are unaccounted.

Since Wednesday I have been in Oklahoma, traveling with Elaine R. Bryant
(Assistant Director, Lutheran Disaster Response), Bernice Karstensen
(President, Lutheran Social Service of Kansas/Oklahoma, the agency managing
our LDR response), Lita Johnson (ELCA Director for World Hunger Appeal).
We were joined by Richard Jostes (Orphan Grain Train), and Melanie
Josephson (LDR Disaster Team member).  We visited Moore on Wednesday, where
St. John Lutheran Church stood with minor damage in the midst of
destruction and debris.  Members were cleaning debris from the church yard,
and services will be held this Sunday.  Gene Nunez paused from his work to
tell us how he and his family ran to their car and drove away from the
approaching monster tornado.  He thanked God for his life, and prayed for
those in sorrow in his community.

Yesterday morning over fifty persons gathered in Emmanuel Lutheran Church,
Oklahoma City.  There were ELCA and LC-MS pastors, District representatives
and Synod Bishop Schoenhals, and representatives of Orphan Grain Train, Aid
Association for Lutherans, and Lutheran Brotherhood.  One by one the
pastors told of families of their congregation and community that had
sustained destruction and death.  Some choked up and fought tears as they
recounted the terror and devastation.  One pastor told of a 7th grade
member of the congregation who said, "My car was on CNN.  I don't have a
car anymore.  I had a Mother's Day gift in that car.  I don't have a gift
anymore.  I don't have anything anymore."

Bernice Karstensen, leading this gathering, helped develop a Lutheran
Disaster Response plan of action.  Now, in this chaotic time as needs are
still being assessed, the basic needs of life will be offered.  Orphan
Grain Train is shipping an initial 30,000 pounds of groceries for
distribution.  Health kits are being gathered for distribution.  Children's
materials were distributed to the pastors.  Initial cash grants were given
to the clergy for direct distribution to people in their communities.  A
special "tornado" children's resource will be developed and distributed
next week.  A local steering committee (of local clergy, AAL and LB) was
formed to address issues of needs assessment and equitable distribution.
LDR will also be working with the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army,
and the local Council of Churches in this response.

Over the years I have seen many disasters of many types...but never have I
seen more widespread violent destruction than I witnessed yesterday.
Pastor Christine E. Iverson, a member of LSS-KS/OK staff and LDR
consultant, wrote these words which help me find perspective: "Oh God, help
us to hold on to your love in the midst of all that we have lost.
Strengthen our faith in you and give us hope....Eternal God, through the
death of your son, you have bound us to you with a love that nothing can
destroy."  In the midst of this heart-wrenching loss, we do not stand
hopeless.  God is here with sustaining love;  God's people are here, to
provide help. . We are people of hope, and we worship a resurrected Lord
who is always present with his people.  Those who suffer and grieve will be
supported by God's grace.  Those who respond will be God's enfolding arms
and healing hands.

You can help in this phase of the response by your sustaining prayers and
you generous gifts.  Please send your contributions to:

    ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response - designated "OK/KS Tornado"
    PO Box 71764
    Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764

         Credit card gift line:  1-800-638-3522

    LC-MS World Relief
    P.O. Box 66861
    St. Louis, MO 63166-9810

        Credit card gift line:  1-888-930-4438

Let me add one brief word about donations.  Every dollar you contribute to
ELCA Domestic Disaster Response or LC-MS World Relief designated for this
tornado will be used 100 percent in a coordinated and equitable response
for the people impacted by this disaster.  Any dollar you contribute to any
other group or entity may or may not be included in that coordinated and
equitable response.

May God open our hearts in this time of great need.

Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst


GILBERT B. FURST  (written on Fri, May  7, 1999, at  6:58 am)
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response (Division for Church in Society),
Lutheran Disaster Response (A cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LCMS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631  PHONE: 773-380-2822  FAX: 773-380-2493
Visit our website:  www.elca.org/dcs/disaster