An Appeal for Volunteers in Iowa

The Floods of 2008 brought destruction to Eastern Iowa. For those of us not affected, the thoughts of those dealing with the after affects of the floods receded as the flood waters receded.

But the recover process is still going on and there is a need for volunteers. The Christian Church in the Upper Midwest along with Disciple congregations in Eastern Iowa have made two videos to explain the depth of the situation in Iowa and how congregations in the Upper Midwest and across the nation can help.

The first video is called "Help Iowans Recover from 2008 Floods."



The second is geared especially towards college age students, inviting them down to Iowa for an "Alternative Spring Break." It focuses on the recovery efforts taking place at Cedar Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, IA. The church building sustained major damage with 8 feet of water entering the building.



If you or your congregation are interested in participating in the work teams, please contact Disciples Volunteering at (317) 289-5061.

Recovery Road

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, interviewed Christina and Jerry Prindle, the family in Hugo, Minnesota who lost their 2 year old son Nate in a Memorial Day weekend tornado. Christina is the daughter of Bob and Barb Rhea, and the sister of Susan Rhea, all members of Lake Harriet Christian Church in Minneapolis. Christina grew up at the Minneapolis congregation. The article recounts that evening when the tornado struck and how Christina and Jerry's daughter, five year old Annika is recovering.

Please go here to see the story.

Also, please remember that Lake Harriet has set up a fund for the Prindle family. You can send donations to:

Prindle Family Fund
Lake Harriet Christian Church
5009 Beard Avenue, South
Minneapolis, MN 55412

The checks should be made out to Lake Harriet Christian Church with "Prindle Family Fund" on the memo line.

Update on Cedar Christian

The report below is from Bill Gardner, interim pastor at Cedar
Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. (For some of you who have received
the link to the pictures of the damage of the church, below is the
corrected link.)

Please continue to keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers.
Their's will be a journey of faith, to be sure. May God continue to
richly bless all of us, especially those who have suffered tragedy and
devastation in their lives.

To the Christian Church in the Upper Midwest,

At the Cluster 5 Pastors' Picnic held on Monday, June 16, atCenter Point, several of those present wanted to know the assessment ofdamage at Cedar Christian. At that time we had not entered thebuilding. Since then I have been in the building and this is my assessment, which is general and in no way a cost assessment or professional.

The flood of 2008 reached 7 feet high inside the Cedar ChristianChurch educational building. This meant it covered virtually everythingon the first floor: furnaces, water heater, copiers, 3 computers,printers, all file cabinets, all furniture in 3 offices, book cases, 3metal desks, carpeting - including stairways to the second floor, allair conditioning motors, walls and woodwork.

The sanctuary basement (fellowship hall) was flooded to groundlevel and plaster, ceiling, and ducts are down. The flood water hasdrained and it is no longer flooded. All furnaces, water heaters,stoves and refrigerators were also flooded. Many lower windows werebroken under the weight. All pans, dishes, etc. are covered with dirt.Cabinets are damaged. It should be added that river mud and sewage wasinside, as well as outside, the buildings. The sanctuary carpet at thefront was covered with about 9 inches of water, as were the first fewrows of pews. The floor is uneven.

We did not have flood insurance as we weren't in a flood plain.We are several blocks from the 500 year flood plain, besides. Also,FEMA funds are not available, except for loans. In addition, the churchhas 3 rental houses that will have to be dealt with, plus the Wee CareHouse is damaged. Crossroads Mission and preschool programs cannot continue, for now.

Some positives: We met that Sunday following the flood at FirstChristian Church of Cedar Rapids. Our secretary, Linda Jandik, has setup an office there. All church records that we can salvage from theflood will go there. The email to use for now is Pastor Fred's, as heis taking over July 1. His email address is:firstchristian@ispwest.com. First Christian's address is 840 ThirdAvenue SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403, c/o Linda Jandik (Cedar's secretary).

We have heard from a few former members who want to help.$1,000 has been received from Week of Compassion via Don Hiscox/RegionalOffice. Those members evacuated have, or will, receive a check fromWeek of Compassion.

Any written response would be a great boost for morale at Cedar!

Sincerely,
J. William (Bill) Gardner
P.S. Check website photos of damage at www.flickr.com/photos/CedarChristian

Flood Update: Cleanup at Cedar Christian

Volunteers are urgently needed at the Cedar Christian Church on SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2008 BEGINNING AT 9:00 A.M.

Cedar Christian Church

526 - 3rd Avenue SW

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

If you and a carload of your friends can volunteer to assist a fellow congregation in cleaning out the Cedar church building, your help will be greatly appreciated. Dan Mineck, Board Chair at Cedar Christian, says that a hundred volunteers likely won't be too many.

Please call Lynette at 319-389-1065

As you may know, the Cedar Christian Church church building was underwater for several days...and there is extensive water damage throughout the fellowship hall, sanctuary, and new education building. Water stood at approximately 7 feet above ground level, so most everything in the building on ground floor or below is likely destroyed.

Please wear long pants and work boots, and gloves and a mask, and anything else that will keep you safe and protected. While the water has entirely drained out of the buildings, there is still much material in the buildings that has been submerged and needs to be removed...carpeting in the sanctuary, boxes of paper and other material, desks and chairs, soaked drywall, etc., etc. It is hoped that all this material, and the wet drywall can be removed before the mold arrives. The stench of the remains of dirty, standing water is pretty powerful, so please come prepared for a tough day's work.

Your participation in this Disciples Together activity will surely be a blessing to the good folks at Cedar Christian Church. May God richly bless you as you give this day of labor in love for your fellow Disciples.

Worshipping in the Midst of a Crisis

This Sunday, June 22 -- the community of Ursa, Illinois will be have a community Park Festival. A weekend event celebrating our Village of Ursa and several of the community organizations. There will be ball games, a car show, games for kids, baby contests and lots of good food. The Firemen are holding a fish fry, the Lions a pork chop dinner, and on Sunday the only other church in the town besides my Disciple church --(Zion United Church of Christ) will be having a ham dinner after our community worship...Sounds like a wonderful and fun town event, doesn't it? Something to really bring our community together? And it will be, except for one big thing that is looming over us -- or as I should put it, rolling due West of the town of Ursa -- the Mighty Mississippi River and the Flood of 2008!

Read more about how to worship in a crisis and other posts by Linda Hunsaker, a Disciples pastor in Illinois who blogs at Creative Worship in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

An Urgent Disaster Response Meeting

Regional Staff has just recently been in conversation with Carl
Zerweck, Director of the Office of Disciples Volunteering.

In order that those of us in the Upper Midwest Region can get a
handle on what to expect, and how we might be able to respond...over
the long-haul...to the devastation many in our Region have
experienced, two very important meetings have been scheduled. Both
meetings will be on Thursday, June 26, 2008, at Noelridge Christian
Church, 7111 "C" Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa...319-393-9532.

Meeting # 1 - The first meeting will be primarily targeted for Clergy
and will begin at 1:00 PM. Carl Zerweck will be available to share
with those clergy present the long-term response possibilities that
may be available and necessary in the aftermath of the tornados and
floods in Iowa and Minnesota. He will detail the plan that has been
implemented in Greensburg, KS, respond to questions, and begin our
thinking together to determine whether or not such a plan might also
work in this Region. It should be emphasized that this meeting is
not just for clergy in the affected area, but all clergy with an
interest in responding are strongly encouraged to participate.

Meeting # 2 - The second meeting will be targeted to laypersons and
clergy from congregations throughout the Region. Again, Carl Zerweck
will be available to respond to questions, and help provide possible
ideas as to how we as Disciples Together can respond to our brothers
and sisters whose lives have been uprooted and tossed into turmoil.
Again, this meeting is not just for those persons who have been
directly impacted by the devastation, but also for persons who want
to learn how they can be of assistance.

The purpose of each of these meetings is to initiate conversations,
share vision and insight, and explore what the possibilities might
be.

Many folks have been asking us how they can help...what can they do???

At the present time, assessment of the damage and of the needs of
each of the communities is being conducted. No one knows yet exactly
what will need to be done, and/or how to go about doing it.

We certainly want to make sure that nothing is done without the full
endorsement and support of the local community, especially those most
affected by the flood and tornadoes.

Please put both of these meetings on your calendar and publicize them
within the congregation with whom you worship. We look forward to
seeing you then and sharing in this important mission and ministry,
whatever it turns out to be.

God's blessings on you and those who have been directly impacted by
the devastation.

Richard Guentert, Regional Minister
Don Hiscox, Associate Regional Minister
Bill Spangler-Dunning, Associate Regional Minister

A Pastoral Letter on the Midwest Floods

From Regional Minister, Richard Guentert:

A Pastoral Letter of Presence and Encouragement

As I write this note the National Weather Service has issued alert number 528. The rains and the rampant threats of flooding across various parts of Iowa seem to just continue unrelentingly.

As your Regional Minister I want to assure you that my heart goes out to those who have been the casualties of those flood waters. Likewise I have received phone calls and communications from other Regional and General church leaders across the denomination.

In a phone call to me yesterday, your General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, offered her attention and prayers as she is mindful of our situation. She wants you to know of her personal concern as we struggle with this disastrous event.

Businesses and churches have been inundated in varying degrees of seriousness in those run-off and lower lying areas areas – as have residences. People have been heartbroken as they watch treasured places of residence and work be submerged by the engulfing waters. Farmers are helpless as they watch seeded crop lands be submerged by the muddied and swollen streams.

The death of four scouts and the hospitalization of 40 others who were fellow campers put an exclamation point on a season of tragedy and sorrow for many families in this Region.

Many volunteers and community workers are exhausted – mentally, physically and psychologically - as they have worked valiantly to address the emergency and safety concerns of residents. Many have worked hard but lost the battle to the forces of nature. Many will continue to battle the elements, in striving to preserve as much as possible of what remains after the flood.

Community leaders, disaster relief workers, and denominational church leaders are already giving attention to those relief efforts that will need to follow on the heels of the flood when it finally subsides. Pastors have called the Regional Center wondering about volunteer work teams that can be organized to go into those areas following the aftermath. I’ve had similar inquiries from Regional Ministers in the surrounding Regions.

The Region and the Week of Compassion personnel have already been in touch with each other about relief monies to help in some of these arenas. Help will be forth-coming from them as we get clearer assessments about need.

Let me encourage all Disciples across the Region to make over and above gifts to Week of Compassion – designated/anotated for the Iowa Flood Relief effort. Those can be sent to the Regional Church Center, Box 41217, Des Moines Iowa, 50311-0504, if you are desiring congregational credit for your gift. They will be forwarded in a timely manner to the Week of Compassion for this specific useage.

In the meantime, what can we do? We can live-out the very vision around which we have gathered in this Region for a number of years: We are “Disciples together, sharing in the fullness of God’s Table, for the Blessing of All!!” Now is the moment to demonstrate the depth of what those words really, really mean!!!

1. We, can lean on each other. The community relationship we experience with friends, family, and neighbors means everything in such moments.

2. As “Disciples Together” we can render thanks for the health and well-being of family and friends. Possessions may be lost, but the gift of “life and breath and being” means that there is always “possibility and promise” for starting over again.

3. We, as “Disciples Together” can Pray. Give thanks for the life-sustaining faith that was imbedded in your hearts and souls in the most formative moments of your life. (You may want to re-read – and pray – that powerful testimony to faith and hope that is recorded in Romans 8:18-38.)

4. We, as those who are “Sharing in the fullness of God’s Table” can gather in worship to sing together, to pray together, to hear the word together, to be sustained by Communion together. Therein is the spiritual sustenance that will buoy us sufficiently to endure the immediate circumstances.

5. We, as those who exist “For the Blessing of All” can hear God’s word of encouragement from Romans 5:3-5. “. . . ³We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

6. And we, as those who exist “For the Blessing of All” can share our resources, our time, our energy, and our monetary blessings through the Week of Compassion, to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

In the meantime, know that your Regional and General church is walking alongside you and holding you close in their thoughts and prayers as well.

May God bless and strengthen us each one for the journey!

Dr. Richard Guentert,

Regional Minister and President

Christian Chruch (Disciples of Christ) in the Upper Midwest

Report from Cedar Rapids

From Regional Associate Minister Don Hiscox:

I've just learned that yesterday evening (Thursday, 6-12-08) the
Cedar Christian Church building, in Cedar Rapids flooded. As of this
afternoon (at about 5:45 Friday), I learned that the basement of
Cedar CC is full of water, and because they can't get in to see the
building, they don't know whether or not the sanctuary has taken on
any water. They will be worshipping with the First Christian
congregation this coming Sunday, according to Fred Darbonne, pastor
of First Christian.

I've also just received the following note from Barbara Appleget,
Chair of the Pastoral Search Committee for Cedar Christian Church...

"I haven't been down there (to the church building) myself to see
because they are asking people to stay away but one of our friends
was pretty close the other night and reported that there were three
vans parked in front of our church and the water was up to the roof
of those vans. I talked with Pastor Bill (Gardner, interim pastor)
and we are pretty sure the basement has water in it, along with the
Multi Purpose Building, our Wee Care Shop, etc. No one could have
known this was coming...even the 100 year flood plain wouldn't have
gone this far out I don't believe...we have a lot of work to do and
some difficult decisions ahead of us. First Christian has invited us
to worship with them on Sunday so the prayer chain is going to alert
people that we won't be having church in our building. The Cedar
River crested today at a little over 31 feet but it'll be a while
before we can get in to assess the damage. It's difficult to get
around Cedar Rapids. There are so many roads closed and all the
bridges over the river, of course, are closed. The I-380 bridge is
still open so maybe we can get to First Christian Sunday morning. I
understand Des Moines is also having water problems...I pray they
aren't as destructive as Cedar Rapids. So many people lost their
homes...It's so sad...."

A Week of Compassion solidarity grant will be going out to the Cedar
congregation this coming Monday.

It's great news that the rivers are cresting in places like Des
Moines and Cedar Rapids, but those folks who live down stream still
have lots and lots of water coming their way, so the crisis is not
over by any means.

Please keep the entire congregation of Cedar Christian Church and of
First Christian Church in Cedar Rapids and all those folks who live
downstream in your thoughts and prayers.

Reporting Flood Damage

Dear Friends,

I am reposting this as a reminder to contact Don Hiscox at the Regional Office if you learn of congregations that have been affected by the recent flooding in Iowa. Please keep the people of Iowa in your prayers.
-Dennis Sanders

From Associate Regional Minister Don Hiscox:

Please...if you know of persons in DoC congregations...or towns where DoC congregations exist...or of other emergency needs...Please let me know as soon as you possibly can.Johnny Wray, Director of the Week of Compassion, has asked for this information so that small, emergency grants can be issued by WoC.

I just learned that the town of Corning got flooded pretty badly...no one in the church family was injured or had loss (other than some farm crops lost)...but the town lost all its school-owned vehicles...the pizza hut was flooded out...as were a number of homes of village residents...

Please let me know of situation about which you are aware...thanks!!!!

You can email Don at dh@uppermidwestcc.org.