Iowa City Flood 2008
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In early June of 2008 many major rivers began to flood in Iowa. Cedar Rapids and
Iowa City/Coralville were the areas that were hardest hit. Cedar Rapids had more
damage than expected. Iowa City had less than Cedar Rapids, though many homes,
businesses and the state college suffered a lot of damage.
We had contacted Pastor Jeff of CC Iowa City and began discussing the possibility
of coming to Iowa City and helping with the recovery efforts. His wife Jennifer
and their three boys had moved to Iowa City from CA to start a CC a couple of
years prior. They had a small fellowship that was meeting in the local office of
Molly Maid. They wanted to help their community but were not sure where to
begin. They also had other responsibilities to take care of. As with most disasters,
local churches and pastors often times feel pressured into taking on the added
responsibilities of disaster relief coordinators. Most of the time this becomes
overwhelming as they have no experience in this type of ministry and they already
have their plates full with normal duties as husbands, fathers, pastors, counselors
and sometimes even hold down full or part-time jobs. Jeff was all of the above.
We communicated for a few days. Finally it was determined that we would fly out
and assess the needs a couple of days before the waters receded enough to begin
the clean up. Mary Jo and I arrived on Wednesday and were met by Jennifer at
the airport. She immediately took us on a tour of the area.
We had also been in contact with several other ministries who wanted to help.
Charles, Herman & Ruth from DIRT ministries were going to Cedar Rapids and
working with ISOH/Impact setting up a distribution center in Cedar Rapids and
offered to us any supplies that we needed. We contacted Brady from CC Dallas
(ACTS) and John from CC Westgrove (Tru-Hope International) who both agreed
to bring in teams to help out with the efforts in Iowa City.
Friday a group of us from CC Iowa City went door to door in one of the
neighborhoods that were hit and met with several home owners who requested our
services. We immediately got to work. We had also contacted the city and they
asked if we could utilize volunteers that came in and asked us to work on homes
that they had work orders for as well. We agreed and by Monday we were in full
swing, working on several different homes in a couple of different locations with
those from CC Dallas and Westgrove coming in and local volunteers were being
assigned to us as well. Brady also had some of the ACTS team members from
Virginia and CA come in and help. Todd from CC Sarasota, a member of our
relief team happened to be from the Iowa City area and still had some relatives in
the area. He contacted us and came out for a week to help with two of his sons.
We also had a group from CC Mississippi Valley, IL join us one day. There area
was also under water and they wanted to come in and see what all we were doing so
that they could be prepared to help out in their community when the time came.
Gary from Mercy Chefs flew in June from our church to cook for us for a few days
and provided the funds for our food. All Nations Baptist church opened up their
church to the teams and allowed us to use their showers and full kitchen. They
had Red Cross bring in dinner while June and Mary Jo took care of breakfast and
lunch while June was there and Jen and Mary Jo did it after June left. We also
had many local people who contributed to the food detail. I even donned my Mercy
Chefs jacket on occasion and helped out including the BBQ on July 4th!
Things were quite a mess and the smells increased as the time went on. We were
able to minister to many different people. Some even came to church on Sunday
before we left town. One girl's father attended CC in CA and she attended when
visiting him. She said she had said if there was a CC in Iowa she would attend, not
knowing one existed and now she would attend when she could! We had many
local volunteers who weren't Christians join us and we had many chances to share
the Gospel with them.
All in all we worked on 19 residences in about a week and a half. We oversaw 67
different volunteers from all over. After we left, we set up a few other teams from
other churches to come in and help out. The Lord worked many things out for his
glory!
Jeff his wife Jennifer, and their boys, Tyler, Zack and Josh, were an inspiration to
me. If it wasn’t for their faithfulness a few years ago as God began calling them to
step out of their comfort zones and scout out, then move to, then plant a church in
Iowa City and then remain there, nothing that we did would have been possible.
They had unknowingly paved the way for the work that God wanted to do in my life
and countless others in the aftermath of the Great Flood of 2008. I know in turn
that they were greatly refreshed by all that God did during our visit. Those of us
who attend regular church services where we are surrounded by many faithful
servants and Christian brothers and sisters often forget about those who are in
areas such as Iowa City planting a church. CC Iowa City is a young and small
church and many of the people who fellowship there are newer Christians who are
in need of discipleship. Only a couple are able to help serve and disciple. This not
only imposes great burdens on Jeff and Jennifer, though they are more than happy
to be faithful to what God has called them to do, but also leaves them lacking for
the fellowship, encouragement and discipleship that they were used to before they
followed God to Iowa. I won’t try to tell you Jeff's family's story, but our group,
though only there for a short time, was able to be that for them and I know they
greatly appreciated all of us for that.
But wait, there was even more! Because CC Iowa City is a newer church, few of
those in the fellowship have seen a serving church in action before. We were all
able to be examples to them as to what a Christian life of love and service to our
Lord and Savior actually looks like! I’m not saying this to take any credit for it. I
just want to let you know again of the different ways that God will use you when
you just trust Him and step out in faith and do what He calls you to do. God wants
to know where our mindset is. Do we have heavenly goals or self-centered, earthly
goals? Wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver and precious jewels? We all have the
same choices and the same opportunities. I don’t mean whether or not to go on a
mission trip or respond to a relief effort. I mean the choice to obey the call that
God has on each of our individual lives, no matter what that is…responding to a
relief effort, going to Bible College, teaching Sunday School, cleaning toilets, etc.
God has called each of us to something and we all need to make God the number
one priority in our lives, to step out in faith and to allow Him to work in and
through our lives as we humbly serve Him!
Jeff emailed me something at the end of the year and I've copied it below for you
to read:
Hope everything is going well for you guys. We have had our last couple of
Sundays over at our new building. What a blessing that has been, seems huge
compared to what we have been used to!
I was thinking about our year and almost immediately I got struck by the fact that
the flood was the pivotal event, an event that God used so mightily in our lives, our
fellowship. Everything that has happened since the flood, somehow seems related
to that time. You and Mary Jo were such a big part of that!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the Iowa
Floods-Iowa City Newsletters.
Iowa City/Coralville were the areas that were hardest hit. Cedar Rapids had more
damage than expected. Iowa City had less than Cedar Rapids, though many homes,
businesses and the state college suffered a lot of damage.
We had contacted Pastor Jeff of CC Iowa City and began discussing the possibility
of coming to Iowa City and helping with the recovery efforts. His wife Jennifer
and their three boys had moved to Iowa City from CA to start a CC a couple of
years prior. They had a small fellowship that was meeting in the local office of
Molly Maid. They wanted to help their community but were not sure where to
begin. They also had other responsibilities to take care of. As with most disasters,
local churches and pastors often times feel pressured into taking on the added
responsibilities of disaster relief coordinators. Most of the time this becomes
overwhelming as they have no experience in this type of ministry and they already
have their plates full with normal duties as husbands, fathers, pastors, counselors
and sometimes even hold down full or part-time jobs. Jeff was all of the above.
We communicated for a few days. Finally it was determined that we would fly out
and assess the needs a couple of days before the waters receded enough to begin
the clean up. Mary Jo and I arrived on Wednesday and were met by Jennifer at
the airport. She immediately took us on a tour of the area.
We had also been in contact with several other ministries who wanted to help.
Charles, Herman & Ruth from DIRT ministries were going to Cedar Rapids and
working with ISOH/Impact setting up a distribution center in Cedar Rapids and
offered to us any supplies that we needed. We contacted Brady from CC Dallas
(ACTS) and John from CC Westgrove (Tru-Hope International) who both agreed
to bring in teams to help out with the efforts in Iowa City.
Friday a group of us from CC Iowa City went door to door in one of the
neighborhoods that were hit and met with several home owners who requested our
services. We immediately got to work. We had also contacted the city and they
asked if we could utilize volunteers that came in and asked us to work on homes
that they had work orders for as well. We agreed and by Monday we were in full
swing, working on several different homes in a couple of different locations with
those from CC Dallas and Westgrove coming in and local volunteers were being
assigned to us as well. Brady also had some of the ACTS team members from
Virginia and CA come in and help. Todd from CC Sarasota, a member of our
relief team happened to be from the Iowa City area and still had some relatives in
the area. He contacted us and came out for a week to help with two of his sons.
We also had a group from CC Mississippi Valley, IL join us one day. There area
was also under water and they wanted to come in and see what all we were doing so
that they could be prepared to help out in their community when the time came.
Gary from Mercy Chefs flew in June from our church to cook for us for a few days
and provided the funds for our food. All Nations Baptist church opened up their
church to the teams and allowed us to use their showers and full kitchen. They
had Red Cross bring in dinner while June and Mary Jo took care of breakfast and
lunch while June was there and Jen and Mary Jo did it after June left. We also
had many local people who contributed to the food detail. I even donned my Mercy
Chefs jacket on occasion and helped out including the BBQ on July 4th!
Things were quite a mess and the smells increased as the time went on. We were
able to minister to many different people. Some even came to church on Sunday
before we left town. One girl's father attended CC in CA and she attended when
visiting him. She said she had said if there was a CC in Iowa she would attend, not
knowing one existed and now she would attend when she could! We had many
local volunteers who weren't Christians join us and we had many chances to share
the Gospel with them.
All in all we worked on 19 residences in about a week and a half. We oversaw 67
different volunteers from all over. After we left, we set up a few other teams from
other churches to come in and help out. The Lord worked many things out for his
glory!
Jeff his wife Jennifer, and their boys, Tyler, Zack and Josh, were an inspiration to
me. If it wasn’t for their faithfulness a few years ago as God began calling them to
step out of their comfort zones and scout out, then move to, then plant a church in
Iowa City and then remain there, nothing that we did would have been possible.
They had unknowingly paved the way for the work that God wanted to do in my life
and countless others in the aftermath of the Great Flood of 2008. I know in turn
that they were greatly refreshed by all that God did during our visit. Those of us
who attend regular church services where we are surrounded by many faithful
servants and Christian brothers and sisters often forget about those who are in
areas such as Iowa City planting a church. CC Iowa City is a young and small
church and many of the people who fellowship there are newer Christians who are
in need of discipleship. Only a couple are able to help serve and disciple. This not
only imposes great burdens on Jeff and Jennifer, though they are more than happy
to be faithful to what God has called them to do, but also leaves them lacking for
the fellowship, encouragement and discipleship that they were used to before they
followed God to Iowa. I won’t try to tell you Jeff's family's story, but our group,
though only there for a short time, was able to be that for them and I know they
greatly appreciated all of us for that.
But wait, there was even more! Because CC Iowa City is a newer church, few of
those in the fellowship have seen a serving church in action before. We were all
able to be examples to them as to what a Christian life of love and service to our
Lord and Savior actually looks like! I’m not saying this to take any credit for it. I
just want to let you know again of the different ways that God will use you when
you just trust Him and step out in faith and do what He calls you to do. God wants
to know where our mindset is. Do we have heavenly goals or self-centered, earthly
goals? Wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver and precious jewels? We all have the
same choices and the same opportunities. I don’t mean whether or not to go on a
mission trip or respond to a relief effort. I mean the choice to obey the call that
God has on each of our individual lives, no matter what that is…responding to a
relief effort, going to Bible College, teaching Sunday School, cleaning toilets, etc.
God has called each of us to something and we all need to make God the number
one priority in our lives, to step out in faith and to allow Him to work in and
through our lives as we humbly serve Him!
Jeff emailed me something at the end of the year and I've copied it below for you
to read:
Hope everything is going well for you guys. We have had our last couple of
Sundays over at our new building. What a blessing that has been, seems huge
compared to what we have been used to!
I was thinking about our year and almost immediately I got struck by the fact that
the flood was the pivotal event, an event that God used so mightily in our lives, our
fellowship. Everything that has happened since the flood, somehow seems related
to that time. You and Mary Jo were such a big part of that!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the Iowa
Floods-Iowa City 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
