Michelle is no stranger to flooding after her community in Lake Charles was affected by two hurricanes just last year. But last week Lake Charles flooded again, this time from a storm that dropped 16 inches of rain in about 6 hours, and it even affected some houses that hadn’t flooded in Hurricane Delta. She went for a prayer walk in her community the day after the storm, and noticed one house that didn’t have a pile of drywall out front. So Michelle knocked on the door to see if they needed help.

Inside was a couple who were trying to clean up their house; they had removed all the carpets and were trying to figure out what to do about the drywall that had gotten wet. “Do you know what to do with drywall? Do you know the next step?” Michelle told them she would help them, and then she called our staff to see if we could send some volunteers to help.

Last week we didn’t have a team scheduled in Lake Charles, but we did have day volunteers who showed up from Trinity Church in Covington and Trinity Fellowship in Friendswood. Both of these churches have partnered with us to host a response in their own communities, so they recognized the impact of immediate help after a flood. They joined with Michelle and a couple of volunteers from Lake Charles Bible Church, our local partner church, to help this couple gut their house. It is so amazing to see God bringing churches together who have been through similar flooding experiences and who want to serve and love the local community.

The gutting is finished in this home, and most homes in Lake Charles will probably be finished gutting in the next few days. After all, they have lots of practice now. But the people in Lake Charles are weary and overwhelmed from the four major weather events they have experienced in just the last eight months. Each new storm feels like a terrible blow and sets restoration back again. Our staff and Lake Charles Bible Church members are leading trauma-based bible studies in the community for believers and non-believers, and we have a full summer of teams scheduled to come and serve. So our prayer is that we would continue to see opportunities to reach out to families in need. We are praying for boldness, to knock on doors where everything seems fine, and offer help and hope to the people inside. And in all things we pray God would be glorified and the Gospel would be proclaimed.

How can you be involved?

Pray – Please pray for Lake Charles Bible Church, for our staff, and for the people in the community who need some hope and encouragement after a series of crises.

Give – Your gifts will help repair damage to our offices, team housing, and lost tools and resources so that we can continue to host teams and share the love of Christ in Lake Charles.

Serve – Email respond@efca.org for more information on serving at Lake Charles or at any of our response locations.