PENROSE, N.C. — As many homes, businesses and churches lost power and suffered massive destruction when Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, one church’s lights remained on and its members were quickly able to jump into serving the community.
When Josh Shelton, youth and family minister at Little River Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C., arrived to work at 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, the fire department was there with a couple who lived half a mile from the church. The couple had to be retrieved from their home due to excessive flooding and needed a place to shelter.
Having just started in the role the week before, if Shelton had not been at the church no one would’ve been there to open the church for use.
“God just orchestrated it all,” Shelton said. “I was at the right place at the right time, but it was definitely a God thing.”
Though the rest of the town had lost power earlier that morning, the church’s power remained on, allowing Little River to use what they had to serve the many people who made their way to the church after being displaced due to the storm.
That night, the church was supposed to feed the marching band at Brevard High School before a football game, so they had stocked their kitchen full of ingredients to make teriyaki chicken. Though the game was canceled due to the storm, the food did not go to waste. Little River served the hot meals intended for the marching band to those sheltering at the church.
The church soon became a place of emergency shelter, providing overnight accommodations for more than a dozen people whose homes had been hit especially hard by the storm.
By Saturday, Sept. 28, donations of food and water began pouring in — some even from as far away as Alabama and Mississippi. Local residents who had lost power were able to contribute frozen items they could no longer keep. With these donations, the church was able to feed more than 200 people each day, serving meals and offering hospitality to more than 500 individuals who had never stepped through their doors before, said Pastor Marc Reynolds.
“We saw more people in the community than we’ve seen in any outreach event we’ve ever done,” Reynolds said. “Yes, we were able to provide meals and showers, but most importantly, we shared the Gospel — the hope of Jesus — so many times.”
The weekend before Hurricane Helene hit, Little River held an evangelism training for members and prayed the Lord would give them an opportunity to reach their neighbors, never anticipating the chances they would have to serve both people’s spiritual and physical needs.
“We want to do more than just meet a basic need,” Reynolds said. “If you’re only meeting that need, you’re missing an opportunity to bring people in. We want to share hope, and we know that’s going to be what lasts.”
Reynolds himself couldn’t get to the church building until Sunday, Sept. 29, due to destruction from the hurricane. Though they did not plan to have a church service that day, Little River had an impromptu service with 90 percent of attendees not being church members. They were simply people in the community who came into the church for “a place of refuge,” Reynolds said.
The church remained open 24/7 for the entire week after the hurricane. Power was gradually restored to the community, and as people were able to find other means of shelter and food, the church pivoted to sending the many donated supplies to other places in need throughout western North Carolina.
As Little River looks to the future of recovery efforts, church members are shifting from reacting to a tragedy to identifying places where they can continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus, Reynolds said.
While their community gradually returns to normalcy, those outside of their community are still in need and Little River plans to partner with other churches so that they can host teams and send them out to rebuild homes, restore properties and walk alongside those who are hurting.
This article originally appeared in the Biblical Recorder.
