By Chris Moon
A lot of things have changed at Bowling Green Christian Church during the past two months—both inside and out.
The city of Bowling Green, Ky., was hit by a lethal tornado on Dec. 10 that caused 17 deaths and destroyed or seriously damaged numerous homes and businesses.
Today, Bowling Green Christian Church is housing staffers and volunteers from International Disaster Emergency Service. Church classrooms are being used for workspace and housing. IDES staffers sleep on blow-up mattresses.
And the church’s parking lot is the staging ground for the construction of storage sheds for storm victims.
“It kind of looks like a small lumber yard right now,” joked Weston Williams, the church’s senior minister.
Wood and building supplies are stacked up. The shed project, organized by IDES, is for tornado victims who need a place to store their belongings while their homes are being repaired.
Such is life in a disaster zone, Williams has discovered. His church simply is trying to help.
“We’ve probably had work teams in for three or four weeks,” Williams said a few days ago. “It’s been crazy.”
MEETING THE NEED
The Dec. 10 tornado was part of an outbreak of twisters that affected multiple towns in western Kentucky and in some other states. Mayfield, Ky., located about 150 miles west of Bowling Green, saw significant damage and has received much national press coverage. Gov. Andy Beshear said it was the worst such outbreak in the history of the Bluegrass State.
A residential area just six blocks north of Bowling Green Christian Church was hard hit, with numerous destroyed homes, Williams said. Businesses and apartments just six blocks west of the church were wiped out by the twister.
The day after the storm, while emergency workers still were assessing damage and looking for survivors, Williams divided the church’s membership list among the elders and staff of the 400-member congregation. They made calls to make sure everyone was OK and to find out whether any church members were in need.
Then the church began to look for ways to help the larger community.
Some people were without showers, so the church opened its gym and showers to the community. The Red Cross bused some families to the church a couple of nights for showers.
“We just tried to fill in the needs as we knew them,” Williams said.
Other churches were gathering food and supplies, and so the church helped with that.
BGCC also partnered with another church on clean-up efforts, sending people out with chainsaws to help where they could.
Church members helped a BGCC family move out of its badly damaged house.
And BGCC distributed a request form via social media for people to contact them if they needed other assistance. Williams said 120 people have sought various forms of help.
PARTNERING WITH IDES
Shortly after the storm, IDES connected with the church and sent staffers and volunteers to help, initially with cleanup efforts and then with the shed program.
“We gave them a key and access to internet and space,” Williams said.
Fortunately, the church had some unused classrooms—victims of the COVID-19 pandemic—that IDES could use on a continuous basis.
The church began feeding the IDES workers every night and providing breakfast every morning. Williams said that has been a blessing to his congregation, which has been eager to help in any way it can.
He said one mom recently told him she had felt helpless after the tornado. It was hard to know how to help. But she’s found meaning in making meals for the volunteers who have set up shop in the church.
“It’s really been kind of a neat opportunity for people to come together and meet a need,” Williams said.
IDES has brought in work teams from other churches to build sheds.
Mason Lambert, U.S. disaster response coordinator with IDES, said 20 of the 8-by-12-foot sheds already have been constructed, and at least another 10 more are slated to be built.
Williams said storage in Bowling Green is at a premium because so many homes were damaged.
“These sheds have been really, really helpful for those in our community,” he said.
DONATIONS TO HELP
Lately, Williams said, the church has been getting requests from people who are finally settling up with their insurance companies. A lot of people are finding they were underinsured, leaving them without the resources to replace lost necessities.
But Bowling Green Christian Church has been able to meet many of those needs. The church has received $80,000 in donations to help tornado victims, most of that from churches across the country, Williams said.
“I’ve never been more proud to be part of the independent Christian churches,” he said.
Williams said BGCC has encountered multiple people in need of vehicles after their cars were destroyed by the tornado. People still need to get to work, he said, and the church has helped with that.
“The extent of the damage and loss, it’s just so much more than you think at first blush,” Williams said. “It’s just kind of an ongoing situation.”
The church is continuing to accept donations to help those trying to rebuild their lives.
‘AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL WITNESS’
Lambert said IDES’s initial effort in Bowling Green was assisting with cleanup and shed-building. The focus is beginning to shift now toward rebuilding homes for those who don’t have that work covered in other ways, such as through insurance.
IDES will be bringing in work teams from churches around the country to do electrical, plumbing, drywall, painting, and other jobs. Teams typically come for a week at a time.
Churches interested in sending work teams or financial help can reach out to IDES through its website.
For Williams, he’s just happy Bowling Green Christian Church can be of help.
“Our church has been really excited about what we’ve been able to do,” he said.
Williams said the church has had a focus on reaching the “de-churched”—those who have left the church for one reason or another.
“It has restored their faith in the church,” he said of people who have been helped. “This has given us the opportunity to show the relevance of the church. . . . I think it’s an incredibly powerful witness.”
Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.
My church mission group would like to come for a Saturday to work. Some with kitchen duty and some with clean up, building, etc. Since it would just be a one day or weekend visit, who should I contact for this kind of volunteering?