ChurchLeaders: You mentioned the local church really shining through this disaster. But you also worked with national organizations in their relief efforts. Are there certain things you feel bigger, national organizations are uniquely equipped to do?
Haynes: Samaritan’s Purse, Send Relief of the North American Missions Board (SBC), the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the local government, and the local church are all working together and sharing information. If one needs help, another entity will supply supplies, people, or work crews…It all hinges on who has the most volunteers that particular day. Samaritan’s Purse and North American Missions Board (NAMB) have access to funds, which is really helpful. So for instance, we’re one church and from outside the church we’ve raised about $200,000 in four weeks, but if you calculate what Samaritan’s Purse and NAMB have raised, it’s in the millions.
They also have know-how. So, even though we’re in the game from the beginning…when they show up, they have past experience from other disasters…Information like how to muck out a house and what products to use to disinfect and get rid of mold…also information to keep people safe.
I think the church is great because they know the people and the nuance of the culture. Sometimes those big organizations don’t get that. And then with FEMA, they are even farther removed. Not that FEMA’s bad—I think it’s helpful—it’s just problem-solving from Washington.
ChurchLeaders: How can the broader church help?
Haynes: There are three things they can do:
- If they have relationships with churches in Houston that have relief funds set up, they need to give money directly to those relief funds because those churches are the ones that know the people the best and who’s going to need help. Based on what I’m seeing, the churches have really good templates and processes for receiving that money and accounting for it.
- They can send teams from their churches. Especially anyone who is a skilled laborer or understands trades like hang sheetrock, painting, cabinets, all that stuff. One of the tragic things is that all the prices go up for all that work so the churches are really trying to supply teams to do that for people to save money. Most people don’t have flood insurance because there were only certain people who were in flood zones that would have carried insurance…There’s a ton of people wrecked financially. So those outside workers help a ton, and our people are exhausted. They’ve got their own stuff, plus helping everyone else.
- If they don’t know churches in the area and they want to support, I would suggest Samaritan’s Purse or NAMB for donations or volunteer time.
There are also some things that are not helpful, like sending truckloads of clothes….In the earliest moments, we need water, canned goods, generators and sprayers and stuff like that. Now, we need sheetrock and Shock Wave, which is a product we use for the mold.
ChurchLeaders: How long do you think it will take for people to get back to a normal life?
Haynes: Rick Warren came to speak to pastors in the area dealing with the disaster, and he said “It will never be the same. It will always be different. Normal has changed.”
As far as when houses will be ready to move back into, you’re probably six months to a year, maybe 18 months. From what I understand, we’re going to be dealing with post-traumatic stress, grief, depression, all that for about two to three years…I think Houston will recover economically, but it will be different. The housing market, we don’t know how that’s going to be…I think it’s going to be a different future. Not a bad one, just different.
ChurchLeaders: What kind of spiritual needs have you addressed through this time?
Haynes: At first it was just a lot of people in shock. We talked a lot about God being our rock. He is unmovable, unshakable. In the beginning, there were a lot of questions about why God would allow this to happen. So we helped people understand God is a good shepherd in the valley of the shadow of death. He doesn’t necessarily craft the storm but leads us through.
In more recent days, it’s been about coaching them through grief. They go from sad to angry. I guess the practical outlays of that are if their marriage was struggling moving into this, it’s really struggling now. You take a family of six who just had the bottom ripped off their home and all their worldly goods thrown on the front lawn and then tell them they’ve got to either live on the top floor or in an RV or find an apartment or something like that, and then they’re financially stressed….We’re really trying to help them focus on their faith when they don’t feel secure. It’s a good moment to talk to people about putting all their hope into the only thing that is really secure, which is a relationship with God through Jesus because we know how everything else can be taken away. You can lose your house, your cars, your mind, your life, in a flood really quickly. Helping them understand the goodness of God in that and demonstrating relentless love in the midst of that—backing up your words in gospel and action to show the love of God is really important.
I think we’re going to have to teach them over time that’s it ok to grieve and to learn to consider it joy when we face trials and then the good things that come out of it. We’re going to have to teach them how to talk to their kids…We are going to have to teach them how to do without or do with less.
Rick Warren said: “Don’t waste your hurricane.” To get people focused on what’s important. Because right at the beginning they didn’t care about their house or cars anymore, they were just glad their kids and spouse were safe. Focusing on what’s most important: Our family, our relationships.
I think we’re going to be doing a lot of counseling for a long time because the nature of PTSD is it ebbs and flows. And the church is going to have to be the ones that are there and really minister presence and counsel and love.
