I first heard about Crisis Response more than two decades ago, when my church sent teams to Louisiana to help with hurricane relief. While I was open to mission trips, I didn’t think I had the skills to be of much help gutting and rebuilding homes.

As time passed, I got the chance to visit active sites on Staten Island and in New Orleans. Meeting with the homeowners, some of whom had become believers because of the ministry of Crisis Response, led me to think that it might be a good experience to serve on a volunteer team someday.

The opportunity finally came in March 2023, when my friend who was a member of the Crisis Response Team in Paradise, California, sent out a plea for cooks to help feed a volunteer team. I was interested as long as I did not have to be in charge — since I don’t consider my cooking skills to be the best, and I prefer to serve behind the scenes. As I came to find out, Crisis Response volunteers don't have to possess any particular skill. The Crisis Response team members use their skills to guide and train volunteers. All that is required of volunteers is a teachable and willing heart, availability, and the desire to share the love of Christ. 

While my primary job in Paradise was to help prepare meals for the volunteer team, the experience went far beyond that. I got to see the Crisis Response team in action, the vibrancy of the partnership between Crisis Response and Paradise Evangelical Free Church, homeowners who were getting a new home, and some who had been led to a new or renewed relationship with God by volunteers, the local church and the Crisis Response team.

My first on-the-ground experience with Crisis Response was so worth it that I readily agreed to a similar plea from my friend for cooks in August just five months later in Fort Myers, Florida. I brought my granddaughter along so she could experience much of the same things I had, including that all God (and Crisis Response) needs are people willing to do what we were created to do, good works that achieve God’s purposes.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)

Consider how God might be calling you to serve with ReachGlobal Crisis Response today. Learn more.