Shortly after Hurricane Ian swept through Fort Myers in 2022, our staff met brothers Jim and Marvin in North Fort Myers and volunteers began working in their home. Ted* lived not far from Jim and Marvin, and we met him a couple of times. We offered a couple times to help with some of the flood damage at Ted’s house, but he turned us down each time. Over the years, Marvin passed away, Jim started attending Fort Myers EFC and joined us for most sharing nights with teams, and the house was eventually finished. We stayed close to Jim, but stopped sending staff and volunteers to the neighborhood regularly.

Then in late 2024, Hurricane Milton took a very similar path and Jim’s home flooded again. Teams went back and helped to restore the house, continuing to share Biblical truth with Jim and encourage him. It also meant teams were back in the neighborhood, connecting with the community through prayer walks and cookouts. After a few months, Jim’s home was finished inside once again. But the two hurricanes had taken a toll on the outside as well, and the house needed to be painted. Since we were still working with families trying to move back home, we agreed to do the work once things slowed down and the weather cooled off a bit.

Earlier this year, we had enough volunteers and a break between projects, so we were able to send a small team to paint the outside of Jim’s house. Ted heard that we were going to be painting and offered to come help. He worked alongside our staff and volunteers and even joined them for lunch conversations. One day at lunch the volunteers and staff were talking about how they had seen God at work in their lives. Ted spoke up and said that he wasn't sure he had seen God do much in his life, but that he'd recently begun reading the Bible and he had questions. One of the volunteers sat with him that afternoon answering questions and sharing the gospel with Ted. At the end of the conversation Ted prayed to receive Christ, and now we have a staff member who meets with him regularly to continue discipling him.

It took more than three and a half years from the first hurricane when we met Ted until a volunteer connected with Ted enough to share the gospel and help him to understand it. This is why Crisis Response partners with local churches to facilitate long-term responses. Some people will be ready for spiritual conversations immediately after a crisis, while others may take years of trust and relationship building to be able to reach. We never worked on Ted's home, but he saw years worth of teams coming to invest in his community and care for his neighbors. The Ian/Milton response continues in southwest Florida, sharing help and hope with people who are still recovering from the storms more than four years later. Can your church send a team to help us share gospel hope in 2027?

*name changed for privacy