MAUI — When Maui residents heard about 65-mph hurricane winds from the south, they never expected the deadly flames that the wind would bring.The wildfires—now the deadliest in the nation’s modern history—engulfed parts of Maui and decimated the beach town of Lahaina, leaving more than 100 people dead, thousands more missing, and miles of homes and buildings destroyed.

Richard Brown, who was raised in Hawaii and serves as senior manager of operations and deployment for the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT), arrived in Maui last week.

Fifteen BG-RRT chaplains are offering emotional and spiritual care in Maui, and more will arrive next week. As chaplains pray with locals, they’ve seen God working in the darkness.

Richard Brown – Billy Graham RRT Chaplain:

My name is Richard Brown. I’m with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team and we’re here on Maui today to offer emotional spiritual care for those who’ve been impacted by the Lahaina fires.

The community has been impacted because thousands of people have been displaced, businesses have been destroyed, and many of them are living now in central Maui, either in shelters or in family or relatives homes.

Currently we have 10 Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains on the ground here on Maui visiting displacement centers and going to family assistance centers and just into the community to help those who have been impacted by this disastrous fire.

About the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team

The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was developed by Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has since grown into an international network of chaplains in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations. They have deployed to more than 730 disaster sites across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes.

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