SPENCER, IOWA — Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) chaplains are serving in Spencer, Iowa, where torrential rains killed one person and left many with devastating flood damage.

“My father was clinging to his refrigerator for three hours before he was rescued,” shared one shaken resident.

Where is God in difficult circumstances like these?

Chaplains have witnessed Iowans discovering for the first time that God is right with them even in the midst of pain.

“Our teams [are] bringing hope to people who have lost hope,” explained Ken Williamson, a BG-RRT chaplain coordinator.

“We are able to give them that emotional and spiritual care that they really do need.”

Father, let every one of us, by your grace and mercy, have faith in you and trust in you as we believe. Your angels are all around us. Father, we know that you are with us and protecting us. A whelming flood cannot overdo us, so a river cannot overtake us because we’re here for you. We’re helping you.

Ken Williams – Billy Graham RRT Chaplain Coordinator:

My name is Ken Williamson, and I am a chaplain coordinator with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. Spencer, Iowa was the recipient of a about a week long rainstorm, which got really violent. The goal of the Rapid Response team here is that we would meet with every homeowner that Samaritan’s Purse has the opportunity to work on their home.

Our main goal is to make sure that we are taking care of any emotional and spiritual needs of the Samaritan’s Purse volunteers that are here. And we’re trying to determine who probably needs a little bit of extra care. That’s right here with us in the camp.

So let us take this into our heart today as we go out and then shed that light and that hope and that love with everyone we see.

Our teams, during the two weeks we’ve been here now, have had success in bringing hope to people who have lost hope. And we just give them a listening ear, hear what they have to say, and then we we take it from there.

Resident:

Well, I just wanted to stop and say thank you for all that you’re doing and that you’ve come into Spencer and been wanting to stop and visit with you all. And thank you. But just also visit as my father was clinging to his refrigerator for 3 hours before he was rescued. The water was about here and he just kept praying to Jesus to send somebody to save me, send somebody to save me. And then it got a little higher and it was about at his neck. And as it got higher and higher and it was about to my throat, he said, I told Jesus that He can take me home now that I’m ready, that I know where I’m going. And 2 minutes later, somebody broke the window out and rescued him.

Ken Williams:

We’re able to give them that emotional and spiritual care that they really do need. They need to have somebody to talk to. And then we we take it from there and see if there’s really anything that from our training that we can bring them that would help them through this part of their life.

Resident:

I was literally blessed by them coming in because I looked at what they did and just the first two days and it would have taken me months.

Ken Williams:

Many of them, they don’t know where to turn. They’ll come up to us and want to start a conversation, allow them to say, okay, I really have appreciated what Samaritan’s Purse has done. But then when the chaplain gets the opportunity to come up behind Samaritan’s Purse and talk with the homeowner, which leads us into a conversation to find out who are they in there and they’re walk with God right now.

And is that something that they want to change or modify or move into a further relationship a long time everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ?

So has this strained your faith a little bit?

At first.

Speaker 5:

Okay. But you’re recovering from that? Yes.

Speaker 2:

Then it solidified.

Speaker 5:

Its neighbors will say, how are you getting through this? Well, it’s not me. It’s a spirit of God within me that’s sustaining me and sharing me. And that’s a testimony they need to hear. That’s why you’re here. I mean, the reasons why you’re here and we’ve witnessed in the first three weeks here, this is our third week. We’ve witnessed 12 of your brothers and sisters and your neighbors who’ve come to the Lord, who did not know him before.

Speaker 5:

So that’s a beautiful thing to come out of the ashes or the flood floodwaters, I should say, because. Yes. And misery and affliction, people are wondering where was God in this? And you have found where he was and still is in. And then alleluia.

Speaker 2:

It’s been very heartwarming for us as chaplains to be here these two weeks because we have seen the love that the community is pouring out to each other and to hear the residents talking about how it’s coming together. It’s not just what we see. It’s what they’re telling us.

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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 800 disaster sites across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes.

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Read more on Non Profit / Faith Based Organizations, and Disaster Relief on Missions Box.

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