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Minot pastor asks for prayers and volunteers

 
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9:00 A.M. EDT July 18, 2011 | (UMNS)



Faith United Methodist Church in Minot, N.D., remains underwater weeks after initial flooding. A UMNS photo by Max Patzner.
Faith United Methodist Church in Minot, N.D., remains underwater weeks after
initial flooding. A UMNS photo by Max Patzner. View in Photo Gallery

View Slideshow: Faith Stays Afloat

As I sit to write this reflection, our city has shared the latest announcement. The primary route in and out of our flooded community — where once a morning commute of several miles required 10 minutes and a small cup of roasted coffee — is now closed.

This means that thousands will be required to go another way around, avoiding the still-flooded central portions of the city and easing traffic on the bridge. This is the latest “bad news,” added to a list of woes that include such daily pleasures as boiling our water, evacuating flooded homes and updating tetanus and hepatitis vaccinations. At latest count the home damage numbers about 4,000 severely affected and about 850 destroyed in Ward County.

In the days before the flood, Faith United Methodist Church, the larger of the two congregations I pastor, was hard at work preparing to gather our children for “Shake It Up” Vacation Bible School. The upper floors of our church still are decorated with kitchen and café theme items. Very possibly those same items are now a mass of foamy mold.

The two young women who were my teaching aides in the room where we told Bible stories now live in an ice-fishing house, evacuated victims of the flood. Faith United Methodist and its parishioners, Minot and countless other communities in North and South Dakota have indeed been “shaken up.”

Many mornings as I travel long distances to borrowed office space at Vincent United Methodist, I pray for these two girls and thousands of others whose homes were severely damaged by the flood.

My comfort? Scripture captures it well:

“You are my hiding place from every storm of life…You fill my heart with songs of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7)

As a United Methodist pastor, life is now measured as BF and AF — before flood and after flood.

Faith United Methodist is still full of water. The future of that brick-and-stone structure depends on many things: how soon the water will recede so that basement water can be pumped, how much damage has been done to the building’s structure and the overall cost to recover—either in our present location or in a different location. At present, Faith is the guest of a gracious congregation — Vincent.



Debra Ball-Kilbourne. A web-only photo courtesy of Doreen Gosmire.
Debra Ball-Kilbourne. A web-only photo courtesy of Doreen Gosmire.

The spiritual health — our “bones” — seems to be good. We are reaching out to the poor and marginalized as we have for 20 years through The Lord’s Cupboard. Many in our congregation are providing case-management services through the Resource Agency Flood Team, along with others of the interfaith community. Bob and Ada Lower, former missionaries for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, will coordinate Volunteers in Mission teams coming into our area.

We need volunteers of every kind. North Dakota is not necessarily a vacation destination, particularly during wintertime — but we are a unique people with vast beautiful skies and vast needs. Your prayers, gifts and volunteers will be treasured.

Teams interested in volunteering can contact Barb Myers at the Dakotas Annual (regional) Conference. Her email address is bmyers@dakotasumf.org.

*Ball-Kilbourne is the pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in Minot, N.D.

News media contact: Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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