Dear Sisters and Brothers,

My name is Kevin Massey, I am the Program Director of Lutheran Disaster Response.  I’ve just had a great experience meeting wonderful volunteers helping clean up in Minot North Dakota.  I’ll describe my latest travels and the great work Lutherans are doing preparing for and responding to disasters.

I first traveled last week to Los Angeles California  to meet with a group of Lutherans who are volunteers with a special team called the Inter-Lutheran Emergency Response Team (I-LERT).  This team is made up of Lutherans from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod who all are committed to helping the Lutheran community in Southern California prepare for and respond from any disaster that may happen there. I-LERT includes Lutherans  from ELCA synods and LCMS districts, Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations, congregations, schools, and other Lutheran institutions.

I shared with the I-LERT team some special training on emotional and spiritual care in disaster.  I believe that the most important thing that the church does in times of disaster is simply to be the church and care for the emotional and spiritual needs of people.

I met Sheila Wenzel, who is the Vice President of the ELCA Pacifica Synod at the I-LERT meeting.  Sheila grew up in Minot North Dakota and had many questions about our response there.  I shared with Sheila that I would be traveling directly to Minot from this meeting, and would share updates on how response is unfolding there. 

The next day I traveled from Los Angeles to Minot North Dakota.  You may remember from previous LDR field reports that Minot was hard hit by flooding this summer.  We asked Lutheran volunteers to head to Minot to help in the clean-up and rebuilding that must happen there.  I will share info at the end of this report how you can help in these efforts. 

Bonnie Turner and Becky Wynia

Readers of LDR field reports met Bonnie Turner, who heads up LDR in North Dakota, last March when the Red River was threatening Fargo.  I met with Bonnie and members of her staff at our office trailer in Minot.  Bonnie shared that there is a good number of volunteers coming at this time, and we want to keep that interest going as long as we can.   I met Becky Wynia, our volunteer coordinator.  Becky is a graduate of Minot State University and was busy helping volunteers get arranged with their work sites.  I asked Becky what drew her to this work.  Becky shared, “It is meeting real needs for people in Minot.  And it is fun to see all the volunteers come from all over!”  Already, in addition to scores of volunteers from North Dakota, volunteers from places like Michigan and North Carolina and Oklahoma and Minnesota have visited. 

Pastor Bruce Vold (third from left) with members of his family and congregation.

Driving back from visiting Pastor Vold I saw something that puzzled me for a moment.  I saw an apple tree in the front lawn of a flooded house.  The tree had a few ripe apples in its branches, but scores of spoiled apples were strewn around the ground at the foot of the tree.  It sunk in to me that no one had been home to pick the fruit.

 My main goal in visiting Minot this weekend was to accompany the congregations in worship.  I attended Saturday evening worship at First Lutheran of Minot.  I visited Bread of Life and Augustana Lutheran congregations worshipping at Bread of Life Sunday morning.  I greeted Christ Lutheran Church worshipping at Bethany, then spoke at an adult forum downstairs with Bethany.  Finally I worshipped with Bethany Lutheran later Sunday morning.  I felt nourished in many ways among these faithful people at worship, prayer, and service.  I was even nourished Saturday afternoon with a lutefisk dinner at Zion Lutheran of Minot!  These congregations are all doing wonderful ministry during these difficult times.  To help them with this work, consider giving a gift to the ELCA Western North Dakota Synod Flood of Love  initiative to restore the damaged churches and revitalize mission and ministry in Minot.

A wonderful group of volunteers turned out in Minot this weekend organized by Lutheran Campus Ministries and Student Government from Minot State University and the University of North Dakota.  Max Buchholz of Minot State and Carter Hill from UND challenged each other in a friendly rivalry to organize as many students as they could to come and work.  About a hundred students converged on flooded homes from these schools.  Many people worked to make this effort a success. 

Pictured left to right: Pastor Kari Williamson, Max Buchholz, and Carter Lee.

Pastor Kari Williamson, the Lutheran Campus Ministry Pastor at Minot State coordinated many details with Lutheran Disaster Response for this effort.  Sherie Heine, the Western North Dakota Synod Vice President organized lunches for the student volunteers, with First Lutheran Church of Harvey ND, First Lutheran Church of Rugby ND, First Lutheran Church of Bottineau ND and Metigoshe Lutheran Church of Bottineau ND all joining in with the lunch making efforts.  To read an article in the Minot Daily News about these volunteers click here.

I was particularly excited to visit Lutheran volunteers from St. Philip’s Lutheran Church Disaster Relief from Fridley Minnesota, who are volunteering this week in Minot.  The team from St. Philip’s travels the country responding to disasters of every kind.  They give a great example of the finest efforts of Lutherans loving and serving their neighbors affected by disaster. Team Co-Coordinators Mike Anderson and Renee Johnson showed me a site they were working on.  They are staying this week at First Lutheran Church of Minot, which even still recovering from flood damage in the lower level of the church is pitching in to host recovery efforts.  St.Philip’s Disaster Relief organizes periodic trips of disaster response from the Twin Cities.  If you are interested in learning more about St. Philip’s Disaster Relief, click here.  

St. Philip's Disaster Relief Co-Coordinators Mike Anderson and Renee Johnson.

Volunteers are still urgently needed in Minot.  We will be coordinating volunteers for muck out work for the flood as long as weather permits.  We will be ramping up for the rebuild phase during the winter and spring.  To learn about volunteering in Minot, please visit  Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota or call 1-800-366-9841.

Above all, please pray for people all around the country affected by disasters this year.  People throughout the Southeast have been affected by tornadoes and storms.  People throughout the Midwest and Plains have been affected by flooding. People in Texas are affected by drought and wildfire.  People along the East Coast were affected by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.  Many other people have been affected by tragedies that didn’t make the news.  Pray that help and hope come to those in need.

My name is Kevin Massey, I am the Program Director of Lutheran Disaster Response, and I am sharing with you a report of my journeys this week in New Jersey and New York.  Even as I share this report I also share that I struggled with how to describe the two very important yet very different parts of my journeys.  I considered sharing them separately but decided to describe this journey together.

 I had been scheduled for some time to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the September 11^th attacks in New York.  Long before I worked for Lutheran Disaster Response, I had been part of the recovery operation at Ground Zero.  I was a member of a special Red Cross team of trauma experienced chaplains who coordinated spiritual care in mass casualty events.  As a member of this team, I worked at Ground Zero for three weeks, providing chaplain services for fire fighters, police officers, medical examiners, and others involved in the recovery operations.  It was heart breaking work, and it took a terrible toll on all of us who worked in those difficult days.  I can never visit New York without being brought back to those times.

 A few weeks ago, Hurricane Irene ravaged a huge swath of the United States from Puerto Rico to the border with Canada.  The storm’s winds damaged parts of North Carolina and Virginia, but some of the most devastating effects of the Hurricane were the flooding that it caused in parts of New England, New Jersey, and Upstate New York.  Even in recent days, remnants of another storm, Tropical Storm Lee, have brought new torrential rains that reflooded many of these same areas, and other areas including  in Pennsylvania.

Roads have been closed throughout numerous states from flooding in recent weeks.

 As the extent of this flooding became clearer, I rearranged my schedule to come to visit part of the areas of New Jersey flooded by Hurricane Irene before continuing the visit to New York for the September 11^th commemoration.  As I traveled to New Jersey last week, I met Lisa Barnes, the LDR Coordinator for New Jersey who works for Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey.  This agency is a terrific organization that provides a wide variety of crucial social ministries in addition to disaster response.  We did planning about the ways that we could best respond to the flooding but wanted to see the worst areas first hand and hear from local Lutherans what their ideas were for the response.

We traveled to Rockaway, New Jersey and met with Pastor John Hansen of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.  Pastor Hansen and other Lutheran pastors from that area are ministering to communities along the Rockaway River that have all been affected by flooding.  The congregations are providing food and support to their communities during this emergency phase of the disaster.

 I met Roy Provost at his home in Denville New Jersey. Roy is the council president of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rockaway New Jersey where Pastor John Hansen serves. Roy’s home was significantly damaged by the flooding caused by Hurricane Irene. Roy’s wife is a talented artist, and her workshop in the lower level of their home was destroyed by the flooding that ensued by the hurricane.  I was deeply touched however that in the midst of his loss, Roy was very concerned about his neighbors. Roy shared, “The worst part is not knowing where your neighbors are.  This neighbor is in her 70’s, and I don’t know where she is right now.” Roy shared ideas about how we in the Lutheran community could care for those who perhaps can’t care for themselves.  One idea that we surfaced was for designing a Hurricane Response Center in New Jersey where we could teach people who are able to attend to their own homes how to repair them safely and efficiently, and also coordinate volunteers who could help people like Roy’s neighbors who are not able to work themselves.

Pictured left to right: Roy Provost, Lisa Barnes, and Pastor John Hansen.

We will work to implement ideas like the Hurricane Response Center in areas affected by these recent storms, and at the end of this report I will share info about how you can help.  As I concluded the visit for assessing this Hurricane damage, I continued on to New York City for the gathering tonight by the Lutheran Community commemorating the September 11^th attacks.

 We gathered then this evening at another Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, this one in Manhattan.  Ten years ago, Lutherans had gathered at this congregation to support each other and grieve the terrible losses and fears of that day.  This evening we gathered there to commemorate ten years passing.  The lost are remembered.  The tears often flow anew.  While time assuages some of the sting of the pain, the ache remains.  We will always miss those whose absence leaves a space in our souls.

 I felt great warmth tonight especially in seeing the relationships of collaboration and shared service that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod displayed while responding to September 11^th.  The service tonight included speakers and participants from both the ELCA and the LCMS.  ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson and also President David Benke, the President of the LCMS Atlantic District, both spoke.

Work on the new World Trade Center Tower 1 is progressing.

I want our commitment to accompanying those affected by the September 11th attacks to be a signal to those affected by more recent disasters that we will accompany you as well, for as long as recovery takes.  People in Minot North Dakota, and Delville New Jersey, and Joplin Missouri want to believe that they will not be forgotten.  By our standing with the people of New York and Washington DC, and Shanksville Pennsylvania this weekend, we hope that this accompaniment demonstrates this commitment.

 Please pray for the people of New York and other places and people affected by September 11th as they commemorate the passing of 10 years since the horrible attacks.  Please pray also for the many people affected this year by tornadoes and flooding and wildfires and drought in places like Minot North Dakota, Joplin Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England, and Texas.

Volunteers are urgently need right now in Minot North Dakota.  Volunteer opportunities in other areas affected by disaster are being considered and planned, but we are able to host volunteer teams in Minot right now.  Consider traveling there this fall to help with the clean up, and consider returning to Minot next spring to help with the rebuilding.  Please  click here  for information about volunteering in Minot North Dakota

 Funds are also urgently needed to respond to the recent Hurricane and Tropical Storm damage along the East Coast, even as we watch anxiously that other storms can still form and affect the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. Please  click here to give a gift designated to help with these emergencies.

Missouri River flooding in Sioux City: Photo Credit FEMA

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

I am Kevin Massey, Program Director for Lutheran Disaster Response.  I’m in Minot North Dakota this week connecting with these flood affected communities and people that I met last month when I was here.  Volunteer operations are underway to help clean up and plan for repair and rebuilding a little down the road.  Information about how you can help is below.

But first, I began my travels last week visiting communities along the Missouri River.  The ELCA Western Iowa Synod organized workshops at St. John Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs Iowa and at Augustana Lutheran Church in Sioux City Iowa.  We gathered Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Assembly of God pastors from Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota serving in communities that have lived all spring and summer under the threat of flooding.

When I was driving from Council Bluffs Iowa to Sioux City Iowa, I had to follow a detour to avoid a portion of Interstate 29 that is closed due to flooding.  I remembered how nearly six months ago I stood on an overpass of this same Interstate 29 north of Fargo and saw it underwater.  So many communities have spent months and months enduring flooding that seems endless.

From the Missouri River Valley I flew to Minot North Dakota.  When I was in Minot a month ago the water was still up and we hadn’t been able to assess yet the damages to so many homes, churches, and business.  The water is down now, and the results of catastrophic and heart breaking.  Thousands of people remain displaced.  Thousands of homes are ruined, some beyond repair. 

I delivered cleaning supplies to a volunteer group working on gutting out a flooded home in Minot.  This home is across the corner from Christ Lutheran Church.   I met three wonderful Lutheran volunteers working at this home.   Dennis and Diane Wiesenborn, members of St. John Lutheran Church in Fargo and Vic Voth, a member of Concordia Lutheran Church in Red Wing Minnesota were working on gutting out the home of a Minot couple in their eighties. 

Pictured left to right: Diane Wiesenborn, Vic Voth, and Dennis Wiesenborn.

These wonderful volunteers are what this ministry is all about.  Lutherans from around the country give so much to love and serve their neighbors.

Later I visited the flooded home of Pastor Heather Brown and her husband David Iversen  in Minot.  Pastor Brown serves the Trinity Lutheran Parish of Glenburn and Lansford North Dakota north of Minot.  Pastor Brown’s home was flooded two feet over the first story. Heather described the generosity and hard work of parishioners of her parish who pitched in and accomplished the necessary gutting of the home.  Pastor Brown and her husband are arranging to live in a FEMA trailer on the property of one of the parishioners until repairs to their home can be accomplished.  Heather shared, “We could not have made it through this without our wonderful parishioners!”

Pastor Heather Brown at her flooded home in Minot

I admired Pastor Brown for her courage and optimism in the face of her loss.  She described that so many people lost more and have harder rebuilding ahead of them.  She brings a sense of hope that even though many face hard work, they are not alone.

Please pray for the people of all the areas of North Dakota that have been affected by this catastrophic flooding.  Many worry about being forgotten and we can remember them continuously in our prayers.  We pray also for those affected by many other disasters, such as tornados across the country in places like Joplin Missouri and Cullman Alabama. 

While volunteer operations in many parts of the country are still unfolding, Lutheran Disaster Response in North Dakota is ready to host volunteer groups from the region and outside the region to help in clean up in Minot and other communities affected by flooding.  Please share this opportunity with your local Lutheran congregations and organizations. 

• Rubber boots/rubber gloves
• Work gloves
• Goggles or safety glasses
• N-95 masks or any mask that has two straps on it
• Hammers
• Brooms
• Large buckets
• Pliers
• Wonderbars or crowbars. 

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

I’ve been working in Minot, North Dakota this week.  Historic flooding brought the Souris River here over its banks, defeating levee attempts and devastating Minot and other communities like Burlington.  Over 5,000 homes and hundreds of businesses are flooded in these communities.  This flood has been very slow to recede, with water still over the first floors of many structures, and as such, hundreds of homes and businesses will probably need to be condemned and torn down.  A boil order remains in effect for the Minot water system for the foreseeable future.

Pastor David Maxfield (Christ Lutheran, Minot, N.D.) shows the high water mark on the outside of the church. Officials have not yet given them clearance to enter the building for further inspection.

This flood has acutely impacted the Lutheran community.  Lutherans are the majority religious group in this part of the country.  Four ELCA churches have sustained flood damage.  First Lutheran in Minot and Peace Lutheran in Burlington have extensive damage in their basements, with yet unassessed damage from humidity on the main floors.  Augustana Lutheran and Christ Lutheran in Minot had significant amounts of water in the sanctuary of the buildings.  We were not yet able to enter these churches to assess the extent of the damage, but it will certainly be heart breaking.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week with Bishop Mark Narum of the Western North Dakota Synod.  Bishop Narum has been in Minot nearly every day of this crisis, ministering to the affected communities and supporting the clergy here.  Bishop Narum estimates that the combined damage to ELCA churches in this area will be well over $1 million.  With hundreds of members’ homes flooded, along with the churches, rebuilding will be a long and difficult journey.

Bishop Narum gathered many of the pastors and other leaders at Bethany Lutheran Church on Wednesday morning for fellowship and mutual support.  At least 10 ELCA pastors’ homes are flooded, along with the rest of their community.  We spoke as a group about the long-term plans to coordinate volunteers and restore homes, churches and lives.  No one here doubts that this will all come to pass, but for now, there is deep pain.

We need to rest for this moment in the experience of all that has been lost.  I met Gary Johnson, the council president of Augustana Lutheran.  Mr. Johnson shared with me that his grandfather was a founding member of Augustana.  Gary’s three children and a grandchild were all baptized at Augustana.  Generations of worship and prayer hallow a place like Augustana, and it is deeply painful knowing that it sits, for now, cut off and surrounded in a watery place.

I fellowshipped with Pastor John Streccius and Pastor Nathan Mugaas, both of Zion Lutheran Church in Minot.  It was a reunion of sorts, as years ago, during my first call after seminary, I used to attend sermon text study at a church in Hoople, North Dakota where Pastor Streccius was serving at the time.  Both Pastors Streccius and Mugaas have flooded homes at this time, and they and their families are staying at members’ homes.  John and Nathan are sustaining pastoral ministry among the people of Zion Lutheran Church, with about a hundred members with flooded homes, even as they also deal with their own losses.

Augustana Lutheran Church (Minot, N.D.), as seen from a nearby property, completely surrounded by flood waters.

In the midst of so much ambiguity and loss, signs of hope and progress are emerging.  Local planning of volunteer efforts here is underway with Lutheran Social Services and other local organizations.  Training for homeowners is being offered this week on how to safely enter and clean up a flood-affected property.  Yesterday, Mayor Zimbelman informed us that he wants  Lutheran Disaster Response to oversee the volunteer efforts for clean-up in Minot, and he announced the same publicly in a press conference later in the day.  It’s a daunting task, but many organizations together will cooperate to serve here.

I was very appreciative this week for Sherie Heine and her mother, Pat.  Sherie is vice president of the Western North Dakota synod council.  The Heines hosted me at their home in Minot, since every motel room in town is currently occupied by evacuees from the flood zone.  Sherie is leading an important initiative for the synod to raise funds to assist the flooded churches.

Please pray with me for the people and pastors of Minot and Burlington impacted by these terrible losses, and for the many others in North Dakota and elsewhere affected by floods this spring and summer.  They will need the whole church to help them recover.  They will need sustained prayer.  They will need volunteers, when the time is right, to help clean up and rebuild.  And they will need financial support to help restore the damaged congregations, as they plan and hope for a new future of ministry here in the Souris River Valley.

In service,

Rev. Kevin A. Massey
Program Director

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

I am Kevin Massey, Program Director of Lutheran Disaster Response. My colleague Mike Nevergall and I are in Alabama this week to see the extent of the damage from the tornadoes of April 27 and to meet with local Lutherans and others in the affected communities.

Pastor Sandy Niiler and LDR Director Kevin Massey stand looking at what remains of the sanctuary at Christ Lutheran (Cullman, AL).

When we arrived in Birmingham, I was pleased to meet Ron and Heather Turney, leaders with Lutheran Ministries of Alabama. Lutheran Ministries will play a key role in the long-term recovery projects here. It was also a pleasure to share a meal with disaster response partners from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, including my colleague and friend Rev. Carlos Hernandez, Director for Districts and Congregations.

Driving north from Birmingham to the town of Cullman, I was struck by the natural beauty of this area with its rolling hills, spring flowers, and emerald green trees. But as is the case with tornadoes, we quickly spotted areas where trees had been sheared off and stripped clean by one of the dozens of tornadoes that happened here. It reminded me of our recent trip to Wadena, Minnesota and how, even after homes are rebuilt and businesses have reopened, these stripped trees will be a visible scar of what happened here for many years to come.

When I learned that the tornadoes had destroyed an ELCA church building, I had called the pastor of that congregation, Pastor Sandy Niiler, shared with her our support and prayers, and promised to personally visit with her soon. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do so. We were joined in Cullman by Pastor Deb Halter, who will be taking on a role with the ELCA’s Southeastern Synod of spiritual and emotional support for the pastors and others affected by these disasters.

Tiptoeing through the debris and rubble of Christ Lutheran Church, I spotted a copy of the ELCA’s “Haiti: One Year Later” update. Pastor Niiler explained that the congregation had prayed for the people of Haiti as part of their Lenten discipline. I was touched by how this congregation had been thinking about their neighbors affected by disasters, without knowing that they would soon experience one themselves.

We stood in the choir loft, virtually all that remains of the building, and looked out over the debris field and the surrounding town. Pastor Niiler pointed out where the pulpit and altar used to stand. Only a fraction of what was Christ Lutheran is still standing, but miraculously, an historic stained glass window of “Christ the Good Shepherd” was undamaged. As we celebrate Christ the Good Shepherd this coming Sunday, it comforted me to see the image of Christ gently cradling the little lamb, just as he now holds this community in his tender embrace. The congregation hopes to incorporate the window someday into a new worship space.

L to R: Kevin Massey (LDR Director), Sandy Niiler (Christ Lutheran), Sandra Braasch (Synod disaster coordinator), and Deb Halter (Synod spiritual care coordinator).

What can you do now? First, please pray for the people here, for their patience and strength, for their emotional and spiritual health. Second, whether by e-mail or on Facebook, share this story with a friend and encourage them to pray as well. Third, I ask you to consider giving a gift to the Lutheran Disaster Response “U.S. Severe Storms” fund, and we will make sure that it gets to those who need it most. Finally, we know that volunteers will be needed here at some point in the near future. Stay tuned for further details about what that will look like.

Thank you for your prayers and support… together, we are Lutheran Disaster Response!

In service,

Rev. Kevin Massey
Program Director

“… but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
— Isaiah 40:31

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

Sunday August 29th, 2010 marks the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall on the Gulf Coast. Across our country, and even around the world, there will be solemn remembrances as we keep alive the memories of the people and the places that were lost to that terrible storm. The passing of time cannot fully heal, but only lessens, the anguish and grief felt in the days that followed the disaster.

I encourage Lutherans everywhere to take time Sunday August 29th to remember in your worship and prayer all of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. Please especially remember the pastors and people of the ELCA Texas Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, the ELCA Southeastern Synod, and the LCMS Southern District who have served so faithfully in the five years following Katrina. The ELCA Worship and Liturgical Resources Unit has produced excellent worship resources to assist in these commemorations and has posted examples of prayer vigils created by congregations in the ELCA. To download these resources, click here.

I also want to encourage you to think about the five years that have passed since Hurricane Katrina. Living in an Easter world of faith and hope, we recognize that it is our response to tragedy, that which follows, that truly defines us. Indeed, on Sunday August 29th 2010 we remember the amazing things that have happened along the Gulf Coast since August 29th, 2005, which cannot be summed up or defined merely by a single day.

In these five years, we remember the courage and steadfastness that the people of the Gulf Coast have shown in rebuilding their communities. We give thanks to God for their witness.

In these five years, we remember the countless many who prayed and gave gifts to support the work of the church in these communities. We give thanks to God for their faithfulness.

In these five years, we remember the more than 50,000 Lutheran volunteers who have traveled from near and far to help their neighbors in need. We give thanks to God for their enduring generosity.

In these five years, we remember thousands of Lutheran young people who gathered in New Orleans as a hopeful witness of the Resurrection. We give thanks to God for their energy and their service.

In these five years, since August 29, 2005, God has been showing us signs of help, hope and healing in these and many other ways. So let us remember together all of these five years, as we continue to accompany and comfort those who mourn, and in deep gratitude for the many signs of continued recovery.

In Christ,
Rev Kevin Massey – Director – Lutheran Disaster Response