Atlanta Flood 2009
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Just a year ago, most of Georgia was under a severe drought and many were
praying for rain. And then a year later, it came! It rained for several days,
dumping over 20 inches in some places, leaving mass destruction and claiming
several lives. Even Six Flags was flooded.
We immediately began making inquiries as to what Relief Ministries could do to
help. I was scheduled to attend a Chaplains training in Dallas and decided to
keep my commitment while working the phone and email to figure out where God
would have us to go.
We talked to several agencies, churches and government officials and decided we’
d head to Cobb County. Gene, who is heading up the non-profit disaster recovery
efforts in the county, asked us to come in and cover a specific area in the county.
First Baptist Church of Powder Springs, offered us a place to stay and clean up.
There was another disaster relief team staying in the church and they offered to
feed us while they were still in the area.
Brian went with me from our church and we were joined by Jason, who we served
with last year in Iowa. He is from Virginia and he and his wife are starting a
relief ministry in their church and he wanted to see what all happens when we
land, to help him in the future. After unpacking our personal belongings and
moving into the church, we set out to contact the local authorities. From there,
we assessed the area we’d been given and immediately made contact with a couple
of homeowners who needed our help. At first we figured we’d spend a couple of
days getting things ready, but there was a lot of work to be done, so we decided to
get started early the next morning.
The first home we worked on was owned by a young couple. Another agency had
already been in their home, but had not done a good job. We finished the work
and removed the mold.
The next home had been completely submerged under water and it was a mess.
We began working on it the following day. Melissa, the homeowner, had been
through quite a rough time personally before the flood began. She was practically
in tears when we broke for lunch. Believing that women should only be
ministered to by women, I didn’t know what to do when God reminded me that
there were lady Chaplains back at the church. Ruth volunteered to come out and
talk to Melissa and she decided to get her life back on track with the Lord! She
was a changed woman for the rest of the time we were there! We had some help
from Convoy of Hope on two of the days and ended up serving with a few locals.
We were doing something on her home until the day before we left as we had
been blessed with commercial dehumidifiers and fans from a guy in our church
and we dried her home out after it was sprayed for mold!
Jason had to head out on Saturday and we welcomed our friend Patrick, (he’s
unaffiliated!), from Alabama. He stayed and helped us through the weekend.
Sunday, 8 guys, Jon, Matt, Fernando, Marlin, Spencer, Scott, Efrain & James,
from the Bowery showed up along with Bill & Donna from ACTS in Texas. What
a boost of energy those Bowery Boys were! I’d talked to the director at the
Bowery about the possibility of sending some of their guys to help out when we
deploy. He said he’d see and this was the first time we deployed since our
conversation in September. I called and he said he’d send some guys. These
guys were hard workers! This was the first time since the Bowery’s inception,
over 100 years, that they have done anything like this and it was a huge success,
praise God! I pray that this will be the beginning of a great work that God has
planned!
Our mission isn’t to do relief work, rather, it’s that each of those on the team
grow closer to God as He transforms us into the likeness of His Son. As we
become more like Christ, the natural outpouring is that we serve those around us
and thus, those affected by disasters are ministered to by God through what little
we can do. I like to think of our ministry being a ministry of discipleship more
than anything else and God has certainly worked in the lives of many of those
who have served with us over the years. It was a great opportunity to share this
week with the Bowery Boys and the others who joined us, to God be the Glory!
Monday morning we got right to work, and had a rough start as it was pouring
down rain, but God was good and we worked well. We worked on Mohammad’s
home, who is a practicing Muslim. He was amazed at how well we worked
together, no cursing, no bickering and at the attention to detail that we gave our
work. We listened to praise music all day and he said he really liked it. When
we left, he allowed us to pray with and for him and he accepted a Bible, some
tracks, a teaching CD from our church as well as a worship CD from CC Merritt
Island! We ran into him a couple of times after that and he always came up to us
with a big smile and said how much fun he had when we were at his home!
The next home was a retired couple across from Melissa’s home. Theirs didn't
have as much water as hers, but nonetheless, it had to be gutted. Their son lived
a couple of hours away from them and had been traveling in to help them when
he could. He joined us along with a gentleman from the church where we were
staying. It was rough when we first talked and got started as there were a lot of
memories that had been destroyed. Everyone did a great job and by the time we
finished, the homeowners were beginning to have a better attitude. I can’t
imagine what it was like for them. We had a good handle on drying Melissa’s
home, so we brought some of our equipment over to their home and dried it out
as well.
While we were there a group of Mennonites from PA was being shown around by
Gene from the county. He was showing him some of the houses we’d done and
they said they had never seen such good work cleaning up after a flood, our team
was awesome! As it turns out, they are connected to the Bowery and send food to
them on a regular basis! A Godincidence for sure!
The place where we were staying had another agency staying there. They decided
to close their camp to combine it with another one close by. We talked with the
church and they said that we could stay there as long as we needed, we’d just
have to do our own cooking, which was fine as I always plan to be self-contained if
needs be. A leader of their group at the state level came in to close things down.
He told me that he didn’t know that we were there and he wanted to make sure
we were taken care of so he insisted that we bug out with them and move to the
other church. I told him we were fine, but he insisted so when we started our
evening devotions I told the guys what was up and everything was fine. About
midway through our devotions, the leader charged into our room and said that we
were a bunch of untrained volunteers and he didn’t know what we were doing
there in the church or what we thought we were doing in the community. He
went on and on and then said that he didn’t want us to move with them, but he
still insisted that we needed to be fed by them, but we’d have to drive two towns
over for each meal. I once again assured him that we were fine and didn’t need
their assistance, but he insisted. I also let him know that some of us are trained
in all phases of disaster relief and that he didn’t know what he was talking about.
He insisted that because we weren’t part of his group that wouldn’t be
possible!!?? He then spent the rest of the evening while he was awake,
complaining and making fun of us to anyone who would listen to him. When we
got up in the morning and headed out, he didn’t say much, but we were glad to be
on our way. I checked with the church again to make sure that we weren’t
causing any problems and they immediately apologized for his actions and said
they didn’t know who he was or what he was talking about and again, their
church was ours for whatever we needed! Lunch time came and he never let us
know where to go for meals, so we started taking care of ourselves and did just
fine, thank you Jesus!
After we finished the retired couple’s home, we moved onto our next job. We
unpacked and I headed out to get lunch for everyone. I didn’t get too far down
the road when Bill called and said that one of the teams that was with the agency
that was staying in the church with us showed up and said they had a work order
for the home we’d been working on. Our guys said fine, join in the fun. They
said, no way, we had to leave. Scott commented that we were all on the same
team so what was the big deal? They called me and I just said, pack it up, I’ll
head back. A few minutes later, they came in and said they had plenty of other
work to do and we could just stay and finish the home. I got another phone call
and continued back to the church. Before I could get the sandwiches started I got
another call. The first group that came to the home consisted of 3 guys, now
about a dozen of them showed back up and stood at the curb facing the home with
their arms folded while the “leader of the pack” went in and demanded that we
immediately vacate the premises as they were going to do the job??? I said, pack
up I’m on my way to get you out of there. It’s not that it takes all kinds, it’s
that we got all kinds!!
In the mean time, Brian was off walking in the back of the yard and he slipped on
some wet grass and Georgia clay. On the way down he tried to catch himself and
tore some muscles or ligaments in his arm/shoulder area. He was in a lot of pain
but insisted on staying. He put his arm in a makeshift cast, was the tool boss,
chair boss and one armed nail puller!
Our next job was moving the contents of a mobile home into a dumpster in the
rain. This family was in good spirits and the guys had a lot of fun doing this.
Unfortunately the home was going to be demolished once the contents were
removed.
We were then contacted by a contractor who had seen our work at Mohammed’s.
He was doing a bid on one of his neighbor’s homes and they asked him to be as
low on the price as they didn’t have much money. Another agency had already
been in the home and supposedly had it ready for rebuilding. The homeowner
said that there was 6-7’ of water in her home, but only 4’ of drywall had been
removed and mold was growing everywhere. We came in and finished the job and
got rid of the mold.
Things were winding down and we were ready to be getting home. I prayed and
asked the Lord that if He wanted us to stay longer then He needed to bring us
more work. The Bowery guys were scheduled to leave on Saturday and we could
finish up what we had on Friday if we pushed ourselves.
We got up on Friday and just before we left for our final day in the field, the
church secretary asked me to call a lady about getting rid of her mold. I told her
I would and after getting the guys started, I met the lady at her home. Once
again another agency had begun the work and claimed it was finished, but it wasn’
t. The floors weren’t touched, drywall wasn’t removed, nails were left un-pulled,
it was a mess. I prayed and told her that we had planned on pulling out in the
morning, but if everyone agreed to do the job, then we’d stay. In the mean time
Gene had come up to talk to me and introduce me to another lady connected with
Cobb County Disaster Relief. He overheard my comment to the homeowner and
told her that if we couldn’t do the work that she needn’t worry as he could put
her in touch with other agencies in the area, but she should pray that we would
stay and do the work as we were the best ones in the area!
The guys agreed, I cleared things with the Bowery and we stayed an extra day to
get the job done.
It was all hard work, but we thoroughly enjoyed all of it and would do it again in a
heartbeat! Thanks to all of you who pray for and support the ministry. God is
good all the time no matter what we go through!
To read our newsletters from when we were in the field, click here and scroll
down to Atlanta Flood 09 Newsletters.
praying for rain. And then a year later, it came! It rained for several days,
dumping over 20 inches in some places, leaving mass destruction and claiming
several lives. Even Six Flags was flooded.
We immediately began making inquiries as to what Relief Ministries could do to
help. I was scheduled to attend a Chaplains training in Dallas and decided to
keep my commitment while working the phone and email to figure out where God
would have us to go.
We talked to several agencies, churches and government officials and decided we’
d head to Cobb County. Gene, who is heading up the non-profit disaster recovery
efforts in the county, asked us to come in and cover a specific area in the county.
First Baptist Church of Powder Springs, offered us a place to stay and clean up.
There was another disaster relief team staying in the church and they offered to
feed us while they were still in the area.
Brian went with me from our church and we were joined by Jason, who we served
with last year in Iowa. He is from Virginia and he and his wife are starting a
relief ministry in their church and he wanted to see what all happens when we
land, to help him in the future. After unpacking our personal belongings and
moving into the church, we set out to contact the local authorities. From there,
we assessed the area we’d been given and immediately made contact with a couple
of homeowners who needed our help. At first we figured we’d spend a couple of
days getting things ready, but there was a lot of work to be done, so we decided to
get started early the next morning.
The first home we worked on was owned by a young couple. Another agency had
already been in their home, but had not done a good job. We finished the work
and removed the mold.
The next home had been completely submerged under water and it was a mess.
We began working on it the following day. Melissa, the homeowner, had been
through quite a rough time personally before the flood began. She was practically
in tears when we broke for lunch. Believing that women should only be
ministered to by women, I didn’t know what to do when God reminded me that
there were lady Chaplains back at the church. Ruth volunteered to come out and
talk to Melissa and she decided to get her life back on track with the Lord! She
was a changed woman for the rest of the time we were there! We had some help
from Convoy of Hope on two of the days and ended up serving with a few locals.
We were doing something on her home until the day before we left as we had
been blessed with commercial dehumidifiers and fans from a guy in our church
and we dried her home out after it was sprayed for mold!
Jason had to head out on Saturday and we welcomed our friend Patrick, (he’s
unaffiliated!), from Alabama. He stayed and helped us through the weekend.
Sunday, 8 guys, Jon, Matt, Fernando, Marlin, Spencer, Scott, Efrain & James,
from the Bowery showed up along with Bill & Donna from ACTS in Texas. What
a boost of energy those Bowery Boys were! I’d talked to the director at the
Bowery about the possibility of sending some of their guys to help out when we
deploy. He said he’d see and this was the first time we deployed since our
conversation in September. I called and he said he’d send some guys. These
guys were hard workers! This was the first time since the Bowery’s inception,
over 100 years, that they have done anything like this and it was a huge success,
praise God! I pray that this will be the beginning of a great work that God has
planned!
Our mission isn’t to do relief work, rather, it’s that each of those on the team
grow closer to God as He transforms us into the likeness of His Son. As we
become more like Christ, the natural outpouring is that we serve those around us
and thus, those affected by disasters are ministered to by God through what little
we can do. I like to think of our ministry being a ministry of discipleship more
than anything else and God has certainly worked in the lives of many of those
who have served with us over the years. It was a great opportunity to share this
week with the Bowery Boys and the others who joined us, to God be the Glory!
Monday morning we got right to work, and had a rough start as it was pouring
down rain, but God was good and we worked well. We worked on Mohammad’s
home, who is a practicing Muslim. He was amazed at how well we worked
together, no cursing, no bickering and at the attention to detail that we gave our
work. We listened to praise music all day and he said he really liked it. When
we left, he allowed us to pray with and for him and he accepted a Bible, some
tracks, a teaching CD from our church as well as a worship CD from CC Merritt
Island! We ran into him a couple of times after that and he always came up to us
with a big smile and said how much fun he had when we were at his home!
The next home was a retired couple across from Melissa’s home. Theirs didn't
have as much water as hers, but nonetheless, it had to be gutted. Their son lived
a couple of hours away from them and had been traveling in to help them when
he could. He joined us along with a gentleman from the church where we were
staying. It was rough when we first talked and got started as there were a lot of
memories that had been destroyed. Everyone did a great job and by the time we
finished, the homeowners were beginning to have a better attitude. I can’t
imagine what it was like for them. We had a good handle on drying Melissa’s
home, so we brought some of our equipment over to their home and dried it out
as well.
While we were there a group of Mennonites from PA was being shown around by
Gene from the county. He was showing him some of the houses we’d done and
they said they had never seen such good work cleaning up after a flood, our team
was awesome! As it turns out, they are connected to the Bowery and send food to
them on a regular basis! A Godincidence for sure!
The place where we were staying had another agency staying there. They decided
to close their camp to combine it with another one close by. We talked with the
church and they said that we could stay there as long as we needed, we’d just
have to do our own cooking, which was fine as I always plan to be self-contained if
needs be. A leader of their group at the state level came in to close things down.
He told me that he didn’t know that we were there and he wanted to make sure
we were taken care of so he insisted that we bug out with them and move to the
other church. I told him we were fine, but he insisted so when we started our
evening devotions I told the guys what was up and everything was fine. About
midway through our devotions, the leader charged into our room and said that we
were a bunch of untrained volunteers and he didn’t know what we were doing
there in the church or what we thought we were doing in the community. He
went on and on and then said that he didn’t want us to move with them, but he
still insisted that we needed to be fed by them, but we’d have to drive two towns
over for each meal. I once again assured him that we were fine and didn’t need
their assistance, but he insisted. I also let him know that some of us are trained
in all phases of disaster relief and that he didn’t know what he was talking about.
He insisted that because we weren’t part of his group that wouldn’t be
possible!!?? He then spent the rest of the evening while he was awake,
complaining and making fun of us to anyone who would listen to him. When we
got up in the morning and headed out, he didn’t say much, but we were glad to be
on our way. I checked with the church again to make sure that we weren’t
causing any problems and they immediately apologized for his actions and said
they didn’t know who he was or what he was talking about and again, their
church was ours for whatever we needed! Lunch time came and he never let us
know where to go for meals, so we started taking care of ourselves and did just
fine, thank you Jesus!
After we finished the retired couple’s home, we moved onto our next job. We
unpacked and I headed out to get lunch for everyone. I didn’t get too far down
the road when Bill called and said that one of the teams that was with the agency
that was staying in the church with us showed up and said they had a work order
for the home we’d been working on. Our guys said fine, join in the fun. They
said, no way, we had to leave. Scott commented that we were all on the same
team so what was the big deal? They called me and I just said, pack it up, I’ll
head back. A few minutes later, they came in and said they had plenty of other
work to do and we could just stay and finish the home. I got another phone call
and continued back to the church. Before I could get the sandwiches started I got
another call. The first group that came to the home consisted of 3 guys, now
about a dozen of them showed back up and stood at the curb facing the home with
their arms folded while the “leader of the pack” went in and demanded that we
immediately vacate the premises as they were going to do the job??? I said, pack
up I’m on my way to get you out of there. It’s not that it takes all kinds, it’s
that we got all kinds!!
In the mean time, Brian was off walking in the back of the yard and he slipped on
some wet grass and Georgia clay. On the way down he tried to catch himself and
tore some muscles or ligaments in his arm/shoulder area. He was in a lot of pain
but insisted on staying. He put his arm in a makeshift cast, was the tool boss,
chair boss and one armed nail puller!
Our next job was moving the contents of a mobile home into a dumpster in the
rain. This family was in good spirits and the guys had a lot of fun doing this.
Unfortunately the home was going to be demolished once the contents were
removed.
We were then contacted by a contractor who had seen our work at Mohammed’s.
He was doing a bid on one of his neighbor’s homes and they asked him to be as
low on the price as they didn’t have much money. Another agency had already
been in the home and supposedly had it ready for rebuilding. The homeowner
said that there was 6-7’ of water in her home, but only 4’ of drywall had been
removed and mold was growing everywhere. We came in and finished the job and
got rid of the mold.
Things were winding down and we were ready to be getting home. I prayed and
asked the Lord that if He wanted us to stay longer then He needed to bring us
more work. The Bowery guys were scheduled to leave on Saturday and we could
finish up what we had on Friday if we pushed ourselves.
We got up on Friday and just before we left for our final day in the field, the
church secretary asked me to call a lady about getting rid of her mold. I told her
I would and after getting the guys started, I met the lady at her home. Once
again another agency had begun the work and claimed it was finished, but it wasn’
t. The floors weren’t touched, drywall wasn’t removed, nails were left un-pulled,
it was a mess. I prayed and told her that we had planned on pulling out in the
morning, but if everyone agreed to do the job, then we’d stay. In the mean time
Gene had come up to talk to me and introduce me to another lady connected with
Cobb County Disaster Relief. He overheard my comment to the homeowner and
told her that if we couldn’t do the work that she needn’t worry as he could put
her in touch with other agencies in the area, but she should pray that we would
stay and do the work as we were the best ones in the area!
The guys agreed, I cleared things with the Bowery and we stayed an extra day to
get the job done.
It was all hard work, but we thoroughly enjoyed all of it and would do it again in a
heartbeat! Thanks to all of you who pray for and support the ministry. God is
good all the time no matter what we go through!
To read our newsletters from when we were in the field, click here and scroll
down to Atlanta Flood 09 Newsletters.
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
