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AG Continues to Minister to Hard-Hit Communities in North Carolina and Florida

Assemblies of God missionaries, churches, districts, ministries, teams, and leaders are continuing to work together and with other agencies to help victims of hurricanes Helene and Milton recover.
John Watford, the Disaster Relief coordinator for the North Carolina Assemblies of God, is a retired AG minister. However, for the last four months, his life has never been busier as he helps those western North Carolina churches and communities struggling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s massive flooding to connect with the aid and help they need.

In Florida, endorsed chaplain with AG U.S. Missions, Denny Nissley and his wife, Sandy, founders of Christ in Action ministries, have been working in the greater Tampa Bay area since early October where hurricanes Helene and Milton combined to destroy or inflict major damage to tens of thousands of homes.

A common thread in both men’s assessments is how churches, ministries, and volunteers have worked tirelessly to help those in need — making their presence felt far beyond what the national media portrays.

NORTH CAROLINA UPDATE

Watford, who’s 71 and makes his home on the east coast of North Carolina, has spent most of the last four months in western North Carolina, making the six-hour trip home once a week or so to recharge and let his wife know “he’s still alive.”

He reports that Crossroads Church in Asheville just recently was able to start using its sanctuary again, though offices and classrooms are still being repaired and their playground and ball fields are still not useable. However, it was the one AG church that had flood insurance, so the church has been able to hire contractors to do the majority of the work.

“Dr. Crabtree (North Carolina Assemblies of God superintendent) had set up a way to give online to help churches and ministers who had suffered loss due to Helene,” Watford says. “I believe well over $200,000 was donated . . . I’ve been really impressed with responses from our AG churches across the U.S. — it’s really phenomenal!”

Watford also has high praise for pastor Manuel Hernandez who leads Iglesia de Restauracion Jesuscristo La Roca, an AG Southern Latin District church in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

“Even though the church had water in its basement, pastor Hernandez, who’s just a fine young man, had set up a station and was feeding people in the community the second day after the hurricane flooding,” Watford says in obvious admiration.

However, even though AG-affiliated ministries such as Convoy of Hope and Christ in Action were also readily involved and working to relieve the suffering, what has stood out to Watford is how ministries across denominational lines have worked together.

“Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, Samaritan’s Purse, the Amish, a lot of Chi Alpha volunteers, solar companies, and so many more are (or have been) assisting,” Watford says. “My guess is, between Convoy of Hope and Samaritan’s Purse, they provided a couple hundred tons or more of supplies.”

Ethan Forhetz, the national spokesperson for Convoy of Hope, confirmed that Convoy delivered 236 truck loads of relief supplies in response to hurricanes Helene and Milton to North Carolina and Florida.

Watford, who works closely with community emergency managers says that initially he offered help as he built relationships with leaders. However, now it’s the managers often contacting him, knowing that whatever the need, the chances are he knows someone who can help.

“God has given us grace with the emergency managers,” Watford says. “But it’s because I could call Convoy or Samaritan’s Purse and within three or four hours, 18-wheelers loaded with whatever the need was would come rolling in.”

Even in the hills and hollers, Watford says they’ve been able to get aid to people. He explains that some of the roads simply can’t handle 18-wheelers, so they’ll send aid in through convoys of pick-up trucks and Jeeps — with some reports of people taking in relief supplies by horseback.

As a critical incident stress management counselor and certified with FEMA to participate in search, rescue, and recovery operations, Watford has found himself in high demand outside of coordinating aid, including meeting with volunteer fire fighters who lost their stations in the flooding.

“One of the main struggles is that many of the people who lost their homes, they didn’t live in flood zones, so they didn’t have flood insurance,” Watford says. “And now, some of them, where their house once was, a river has rerouted itself and is now flowing — those people are now paying mortgages on houses that no longer exist built on land that is now under a river.”

Watford says that although progress have been made, there’s still a great need for skilled teams. Those wanting to assist with the rebuilding of communities should touch base with him first.

“There are a lot of logistics involved — staging, housing, food, transportation for workers into the mountain areas — there’s limited space,” he explains. “But anybody who wants to volunteer can call me at 252-259-5457 or send an email to me at [email protected].”

Watford also brings up a point many may not readily consider — the delicate line between when aid is helpful and when it becomes detrimental to recovery.

“As people’s businesses and homes are repaired, they’re going to need to return to work,” he says. “But if volunteers are doing all the home repairs for free, if charities are providing things like drywall and food for free, they’re taking away the income potential of local contractors, stores, and restaurants and their employees.”

However, Watford is quick to point out that those whose homes were destroyed or significantly damaged and didn’t have flood insurance are in a different category; many of those individuals are likely still going to need assistance to get their lives back on track.

“If you can offer people some peace in their storm and have great support such as Convoy of Hope, Fuller Builders, Christ in Action, Samaritan’s Purse, and the support of our churches and North Carolina headquarters — it gives people hope . . . I tell pastors all the time, no matter the damage to the church building, focus on the people first, go help them, shepherd God’s people, bind up their wounds — God will take care of His house.”

FLORIDA UPDATE

What some people may not recall is that Florida was hit by three hurricanes in the space of roughly two months — Debby (Aug. 5) Helene (Sept. 26), and Milton (Oct. 9) — last year, damaging or destroying more than 60,000 homes and businesses.

Chaplain Denny Nissley says that Florida has a unique challenge. In other regions where hurricanes strike, oftentimes in addition to ministries and charities being the first to respond, there are neighbors helping neighbors and people able to do some of their own repairs and clean-up.

“In Florida, you have a lot of elderly and people retiring there (often moving away from family) because of the warmer weather,” he explains. “So, if you have trees down, a lot of debris to clean up, or other damage you’ll often find the ‘young’ 78-year-old trying to help out his or her older 83-year-old neighbor.”

Another challenge is the popularity of manufactured homes as they are more affordable and fit the retiree mantra of “downsize and simplify.” However, now the few national and regional companies that even offer insurance on mobile or manufactured homes charge skyrocketing premiums due to the risk involved — and some residents simply cannot afford it.

“We worked on 80 homes in North Carolina, but due to the road conditions and the washing out of bridges to properties, we couldn’t physically get our equipment to many areas in the hills,” Nissley says.

However, Florida’s relatively level geography allows far easier access to communities.

“We’ve done over 190 homes so far in Florida,” Nissley says, “and there is a lot of work left to be done.”

Jason Libby, an AG U.S. missionary chaplain with 461 Response, is the coordinator for PenFlorida District Disaster Response which is part of the PenFlorida Men’s Ministries. The disaster response team focuses on helping churches rebuild so the churches can focus on their communities.

“Hurricanes Helene and Milton came back-to-back and impacted 13 churches in the district,” Libby says. “We’re still actively working on five of those church restoration projects.”

Libby says that his role as coordinator is to connect with churches, find out the needs, and connect with ministry teams from other churches that can be there for them.

“The biggest blessing in all of this is being able to come alongside pastors and show them they’re not alone,” Libby says. “To know that their Fellowship is right there with them is really an invaluable thing.”

PenFlorida District churches are still in need of help, with the most pressing need being repairing roof damage.

“We still need teams, and we really need roofers,” Libby says. “All of our churches are operational, but we are still dealing with tarps and covered-over roofs.” To volunteer or learn more about the church restoration projects, contact Libby at 214-284-5228 or [email protected].

For Nissley and his Christ in Action team, their ministry focus remains on the many displaced people in Florida who need help.

In a recent Chaplaincy video on Christ in Action, Nissley sums up the ministry — and the efforts of many other churches, districts/networks, and ministries helping with disaster recovery — they don’t just respond to disasters to clean up brick and mortar, they are also there to clean up souls and flesh.

“We want to be there with the best message at the worst time of their life,” he stated.



Dan Van Veen

Dan Van Veen is news editor of AG News. Prior to transitioning to AG News in 2001, Van Veen served as managing editor of AG U.S. Missions American Horizon magazine for five years. He attends Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, where he and his wife, Lori, teach preschool Sunday School and 4- and 5-year-old Rainbows boys and girls on Wednesdays.