Just got forwarded a great article from today’s Minot Daily News which highlights how members of the ELCA are responding to disaster. The story is about the Tree of Hope Fair, hosted at First Lutheran in Minot this past Sunday. The event sprung from the idea that with the extensive flooding in Minot this past summer many people may have lost their decorations for the Christmas season. To help make the season brighter, the fair offered donated holiday decorations for free, that people could come and take.

A great aspect of the event was the shared opportunity in hosting it, as highlighted by a comment posted to the article by Pastor Mike Pancoast, Associate Pastor of First Lutheran:

While the event was held at First Lutheran, the whole thing was really an effort of ALL the Minot-area congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The coordinator for the marvelous snacks and refreshments served on Sunday was Sue Roise from Zion Lutheran. Deanna Syvertson from Bethany was a coordinator for the set-up and sorting that took place on Saturday. I know there were volunteers from Peace Lutheran in Burlington and Christ Lutheran here in town, not to mention the dozens of other volunteers from across the denominational spectrum.

There are so many great things in here, it’s hard to decide which to lift up. This is the ELCA at work, doing God’s Work with our hands. These are Churches highlighting the meaning of Christmas in true acts of giving. Here we see Christians loving God through their loving service to the neighbor. Gotta say it brings a smile to my face and a lightness to my heart. Amen!

Read the Article: Tree of Hope Fair — First Lutheran event brightens Christmas for area residents

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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

Dear sisters and brothers,

The annual conference of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) is taking place this week in Kansas City, bringing together the leaders of nearly every faith-based, secular, and governmental disaster response organization.  The conference is a wonderful chance to network with colleagues and learn about the emerging trends in the sector.  This last Sunday evening, the deadliest tornado in recorded U.S. history devastated the city of Joplin, Missouri, just three hours south of where the conference would begin the following day.

Needless to say, the dynamic at the conference has been very different this year.  Those representing early response organizations – groups like the American Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief – re-routed staff to Joplin almost immediately, while those of us who remained at the conference were itching to join them.  But all of us have been united in the knowledge that, very soon, it will be time to get to work.

Director Kevin Massey and Associate Director Mike Nevergall stand among what is left of Peace Lutheran Church

Yesterday, I went to Joplin, along with my colleagues Kevin Massey and Maria Maldonado, at the invitation of Bishop Jerry Mansholt of the ELCA Central States Synod.  We traveled with Pastor Bill Pape, who has been serving as interim pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Joplin for the last few years.  The tornado completely destroyed the church building at Peace Lutheran, but thankfully, all of the members are now accounted for.

We have all seen the images of Joplin on television, with destruction stretching as far as you can see, but there are simply no words sufficient to describe seeing it in person.  The thing that always stuns me with tornadoes is the way they cut a swath of damage but leave surrounding areas mostly untouched.  Driving south on Range Line Road, which runs on the east side of the city, there was not much sign of tornado damage at first. But then we crested a small hill, the disaster area spread out in front of us, and I instantly felt tears well up in my eyes.  Homes leveled to the foundations, cars flipped over as if they were toys, businesses flattened, trees stripped of all leaves and branches.  Block after block after block, there are buildings which will need to be simply demolished and started over again.  For a concentrated area, it may be the worst devastation I have seen in my more than five years with Lutheran Disaster Response.

After a disaster has happened, we receive requests from congregations who want to send supplies into the area.  We also receive requests from

Pastor Bill Pape and Kevin Massey help unload items being collected at a Lutheran elementary school.

volunteers who want to travel to the area to serve, in whatever way they can be helpful.  The early stages of a disaster response can be complicated, as a community figures out how to plan its recovery, and these sorts of well-intentioned offers can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help.  But today, just three days after the event, we met a couple from Dallas who had driven to Joplin and set up a trailer from which they were distributing grilled hamburgers and hot dogs to anyone who wanted one.  We also helped unload donated goods at a Lutheran elementary school that was receiving things to distribute from neighboring towns.  In this moment, those offers of help were meaningful and appreciated.

At the end of our day in Joplin, we sat with members of Peace Lutheran to talk about next steps for their congregation.  Bishop Mansholt read to us from Psalm 46, and then we heard members of the congregation share their stories about the last few days.  We laughed together, which felt good for the soul in the midst of such a difficult situation, but there were also many tears.  The members of Peace Lutheran are determined to worship together this Sunday, and they hope to do so in the parking lot next to where their church stood less than a week ago.  And they want you to know how important it has been to know that people are praying for them, thinking about them, and asking how to help them, from across the country and around the world.

Bishop Jerry Mansholt meets with gathered members of Peace Lutheran Church

I ask you to continue praying for the people of Joplin, and specifically for Pastor Pape and the members of Peace Lutheran.  Our strength as Lutherans is being there for the long haul, understanding that disaster recovery is a long-distance run and not a sprint.  The people of Joplin will need our ongoing support for months and even years to come.  I hope you will consider a gift to the “U.S. Severe Spring Storms” account, from which we have begun and will continue a meaningful response to this disaster.

Finally, I would like to ask your prayers for me personally and for my disaster response colleagues, Lutheran and otherwise.  This spring has been a steady stream of new disasters, and with hurricane season less than a week away, it feels a bit overwhelming at times.  It is in difficult times like these that I am uplifted by your ongoing support for this important ministry we do together!

In service,

Mike Nevergall
Associate 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

Dear sisters and brothers,

My name is Mike Nevergall, and I serve as Associate Program Director of Lutheran Disaster Response.  My colleague, Kevin Massey, and I are in North Dakota and Minnesota this week for what has become an all too regular event – the annual cresting of the Red River of the North.  I wanted to share with you some of what we have seen and heard this week and ask you to continue praying for the people here.

A washed out road, just west of Harwood, N.D.

Similar to large hurricanes, which are given names, each flood is different, as if it has its own personality.  The story of this flood is overland flooding – farm fields and rural roads, small towns and isolated areas.  The crest in the Fargo/Moorhead area, which happened over this past weekend, came in at 38.75 feet, about two feet shy of the record from 2009.  The overland flooding, however, appears to be the worst in recent history.

On Monday evening, we had the chance to ride along with Pastor Jeff Sandgren, of Olivet Lutheran Church in Fargo, as he drove to Harwood to deliver hot meals to the National Guard troops stationed there.  Near Harwood, a small town about eight miles north of Fargo, the water from the Red River, and from the nearby Sheyenne River, is nearly four miles out of its banks, and about 20 miles of the interstate have been closed all week.

Outside of Harwood, I met a farmer as he left to walk his dog.  His home was completely surrounded by water, with some of his outbuildings already under, and the road was completely washed out less than 100 yards from his driveway.  He described to me that the hardest part of the flood fight is the exhaustion from lack of sleep.  “The sump pump kicks on every three minutes,” he told me, “and you don’t dare fall asleep at night for fear that you won’t hear if it stops working.”  You can imagine how that exhaustion compounds – this is the third major flood here in as many years, and this year’s flood fight started on Valentine’s Day.

LDR staff help put together chicken dinners for first responders at Olivet Lutheran Church (Fargo, N.D.)

I am so proud of the Lutheran churches and people we have met here in the valley.  As I already mentioned, the people of Olivet Lutheran have been serving hot meals to first responders – police, fire, highway patrol, National Guard – as they work tirelessly to keep people safe.  The people of First Lutheran, also in Fargo, have partnered again with the Salvation Army to make sandwiches by the thousands to deliver.  Bonnie Turner, with Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, is playing a key leadership role with community groups in coordinating the response on both sides of the Red River.

Even as new disasters happen, we recognize that disasters take months or years, and not weeks, to clean up and be recovered.  Yesterday, we visited with Pastor Del Moen and the members of the Wadena Otter Tail Long-Term Recovery group.  Last June, a tornado tore through Wadena and the surrounding communities, leaving more than 100 damaged homes in its path.  Pastor Moen has been a key leader in the ongoing recovery process, and I am truly proud of his service.

A home outside of Wadena, MN, which was destroyed by last summer's F4 tornado.

So what can you do today to help?  First, I cannot say enough about the power of prayer and what it means to these courageous survivors. Please pray for the people here, for their patience and strength, for their emotional and spiritual health.  Second, the national media has given very little attention to this flood, especially after the larger towns appeared to be safe.  Help us tell this story. Whether by e-mail or on Facebook, send this along to a friend, tell them about what is happening here and encourage them to pray as well.  Finally, I ask you to consider making a gift to the U.S. Floods fund, and we will make sure that it gets to those who need it most.

Thank you for your ongoing support of this important ministry of our church!

In service,
Mike