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Dear friends in Christ,
"Miss Pearl was deep in depression," her pastor, Richard Joyner, told me.
Miss Pearl, an 80-something woman from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was
despondent because of damage done to her home by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
"She had no hope. She didn't talk to anybody any more, she wouldn't even
come out of her house," he said.
I just returned from North Carolina, where, among stops, I visited at Miss
Pearl's house. Working in Rocky Mount this week are thirteen adults and
eleven senior youth group members from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in
Schaumburg, Illinois. They drove over twenty hours to make a Mission Trip
to North Carolina, to work as Lutheran Disaster Response volunteers on four
Rocky Mount houses. When they started working at Miss Pearl's house, she
told her pastor, "I prayed to God for help. God sent these people to me."
As they painted, cleaned shrubbery, raked her yard, Pastor Joyner said her
depression lifted, she started talking to her neighbors, she had renewed
life. "The volunteers did something for her that medication could never
do," he told me. "The faith process in action works!"
Lutheran Disaster Response (a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod) is
completing a two-year response in eastern North Carolina. I will have a
final update for you at the end of August. But I can tell you that under
the guidance of Dale and Jean Peercy (LDR construction managers), 350
houses have been repaired in North Carolina. Now the Peercys are preparing
to move to Houston, where they'll be part of the LDR response to Tropical
Storm Allison flooding that affected 20,000 houses.
Ms. Karen Wagner, Prince of Peace director of youth and family ministries,
told me how meaningful it was for her church group to work together in
North Carolina. "At the end of the day, we really have had some
significant faith conversations."
The church's disaster response ministries truly are "the faith process in
action." I invite you to join in the action! YOU CAN
- PRAY. Pray for those who have been affected by disasters this year in
Kansas, Mississippi, Texas, Wisconsin, and West Virginia - and for those
who stand in perils way as the hurricane season begins to intensify. And
pray for those who come in Jesus' name to bring help and hope as caregivers
and volunteers.
- VOLUNTEER. As soon as volunteer opportunities open up for you to live
out your faith, consider using your skills on the disaster sites. Kansas
and Mississippi are ready. Texas, Wisconsin, and West Virginia are still
getting organized for outside individuals and groups.
- CONTRIBUTE. The dollars you send enable the church to be present from
the moment a disaster makes an impact until long after other groups and
organizations have left. Your contributions enable your church to provide
a coordinated, effective, and efficient response.
Please send your contributions to:
ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster
LC-MS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438
"The faith process in action works!"
Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Sat, Aug 4, 2001,12:05 pm). Director for
ELCA DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE (Division for Church in Society) and
LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493
Please visit our website: www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
