Dear Ministry Friends,
It’s hard not to get overwhelmed by the chaos and complexity of our world, today.
The war in Ukraine, neighboring Romania, seems to be entering a new and more consequential phase with troops from N. Korea now entering the combat zone. The results of the Presidential election in Romania were recently annulled due to social media infiltration by Russian interests. A lasting peace in the Middle East seems more remote than ever with missiles now being exchanged around the region by multiple antagonists.
Closer to home, the carnage from Hurricane Helene—first in Florida (September 26) and then in the mountains of North Carolina (September 27)—reached unimaginable proportions as the Nolichucky and Pikeville dams suffered “catastrophic failures,” resulting in significant loss of life (at least 240 confirmed dead) and historic levels of flooding hundreds of miles downstream on the French Broad River. With damage projections of upwards of 200 billion dollars, the fall 2024 storm may be the costliest in US history. As Chris Duncan (Asheville resident and Missio International Board Director) shared with me during the height of the historic rainfall and its immediate aftermath, such moments seem to bring out both the best and the worst in people.
It’s hard not to get overwhelmed.
As someone who lives on the French Broad River in East Tennessee and watched as the “controlled” flood waters released from Douglas Dam submerged nearby houses, spilled over the riprap (large shoreline rocks that stabilize the river bank) in our backyard and moved to about 20 feet from the base of our home, I’d like to share my first-hand glimpse of what Chris described as “the best” in people.
It was Sunday afternoon, September 29, two days after Hurricane Helene had dumped around 40 trillion gallons of water on the Southeast United States. Imagine 619 days of constant water flow over Niagara Falls and you’ll begin to see what 750,000 gallons of water p/ second amounts to (https://www.wspa.com/news/astronomical-how-much-rain-was-dumped-by-hurricane-helene-in-the-southeast/). TVA had just announced that they were going to release historic levels of water from Douglas Dam (30 miles upstream from my home) over the next several days in order to mitigate the flooding in and around the Douglas Reservoir.
At 2pm on the 29th, I could see no options but helplessly to watch the water rise. What could I do? Well, maybe I could protect the foundation of the house with sandbags! But where would I find sandbags on a Sunday afternoon? Where would I find a sufficient amount of sand? How many sandbags could I even make before it got dark? How would I transport sandbags to the house, carry them to the river, and effectively place them? And, even if I could find bags and sand and a way to transport the sandbags, how much money would it cost, and how could Doris and I by ourselves (we’re not spring chickens!) hope to get all the work done in time.
At 3pm, my sister (Shelby, also an MI Board Director) met me at Home Depot with 250 empty bags she’d found on sale at Mayo’s Garden and Supply. They cost $2.50 each. By 3:15pm I had rented a moving van from Home Depot (for $90) and was driving to a construction site at Johnson University (where I work) to look for sand. At 3:45pm, Johnson’s Athletic Director said I could utilize as much sand as I needed from a pile next to the baseball field. At 4pm, a group of 25 students, staff, and faculty met me at the sand pile and began to fill the empty bags. By 5pm, we had filled 100 bags @ 50 lbs. p/ bag and loaded them in the moving van (weight capacity, 5000 lbs.). At 5:15pm, I arrived at my home with 100 sandbags and found no less than 30 men, women, and children from my church in my front yard prepared to help. By 5:30pm, we had unloaded the sandbags and started placing them around the base of the house. At 6:15pm, having driven the now empty moving van back to Johnson, my son in law arrived back at the house with another 100 filled sandbags. By 6:30pm, the church had strategically situated 200 sandbags weighing 10,000 lbs. in the backyard. At 7pm, with the last of our church friends now gone, my wife and I—overwhelmed, not by the rising river, but with the selfless generosity of God’s people, cried a prayer of thanks and praise.
Why have I taken so much of your time here to share this story?
Because, like the army of angels who surrounded my wife and I a few weeks ago, You are just such a cloud of generous and supportive witnesses undergirding the work of God’s people in Romania. You are making it possible for unspeakable abuse to be transformed into songs of praise among the girls of Deborah House. You are helping devoted believers all across Romania grow in their faith and go out in missional witness to the world with the gospel. You are making a way for men and women, boys and girls, Christians and not-yet-Christians to encounter God in the unique space that is the Alpinis Leadership Center. And You are the ones who bring the MI-MLI ministry family to grateful tears because of your abiding involvement in prayer, in service, and in financial partnership.
Overwhelmed? Yes! But with the presence of God and his people—rather than the chaos in our world. Like the first Christians in Corinth who the Apostle Paul ministered among, we see our Lord Jesus, the glory of God, in your “unveiled faces” (2 Corinthians 3.18). Thank you for being servants of God.
Gratefully yours,
Kenny Woodhull,
President, Missio International