We Came to Help. We Left Changed: How Disaster Relief Grew Our Faith in Johnson City
A man stood next to his family with nothing left but the clothes he was wearing. He pointed down at the creek behind what used to be his house.
"I was baptized in that creek when I was a baby," he told David Schofield, one of our team leaders. "All these years later, that creek rose thirty feet and took everything that belonged to me."
He'd lost his home. His belongings. Almost everything he owned. But he hadn't lost his faith.
"It was devastating. It was scary," David said. "But he never lost his faith — he still believes. It actually helped him reset, to realize material things aren't nearly as important as personal safety and a strong faith."
That's the story that stuck with our team the most after a trip to Johnson City, Tennessee, this past May — one of many we came home with.
Why We Went
Johnson City is still rebuilding. Hurricane Helene tore through the region two years ago this September, and homes are still being repaired, rebuilt, or replaced from scratch. So this spring, a team from The Crossing and New Hope Canoe Club Ministry Team Atlantic partnered with IDES — International Disaster Emergency Services — to spend a week helping.
IDES is built around a simple idea: when disaster hits, FEMA and the Red Cross show up for the medical care, the safety, and the property recovery. But both organizations acknowledge something else matters just as much — spiritual support. That's the gap IDES exists to fill, and it's the reason this ministry started here at The Crossing.
IDES reaches out to local churches near a disaster and partners with them to house volunteers — sometimes for years, week after week, as an area rebuilds. Our team slept on air mattresses in a partner church's meeting space, ate breakfast, lunch, and a hot dinner provided by that congregation, and worked each day with tools and equipment IDES supplied — everything from hammers and nails to bobcats and front-end loaders.
The work itself took a lot of different forms: framing, siding, insulation, decks, tubs and showers. But the actual requirement to go on a trip like this isn't a construction background. It's a willingness to serve — to listen, to pray with someone if they ask, to sit with a family and let them tell you what they've been through. Sometimes that even meant communion on the side of the road, with whoever happened to be there.
Stories From the Ground
A family who chose faith over fear.
Brian Burke worked alongside a family whose ordeal is hard to imagine. They were out helping their neighbors move belongings to higher ground when the river rose thirty to forty feet in a matter of minutes.
"Their feet are getting wet. Thirty minutes later, the water is up to their knees, and they're starting to get swept away," Brian said. "They had video of it — watching the water rise, and the calmness they had in the video, without the panic I would feel."
Their plan, if the water kept rising, was simple: walk up the mountain. Their daughter was safe. That was all that mattered.
"They had God, and they gave it to Him," Brian said. "It was a miracle to see everybody come together and help — not thinking, 'I have to take care of myself,' but 'how can I take care of my neighbor.' Walking away from that is life-changing. Something I'll keep with me forever."
Volunteers who expected to give — and found they'd received more.
Michael Kennedy went to Tennessee expecting to encourage people through a disaster. What he found instead humbled him.
"I was absolutely floored by how strong their faith was," Michael said. "People who had lost absolutely everything had no bitterness, no anger reflected in anything they said and did. Some of them, their faith was stronger after this. If anything, they propped up my faith more than I did theirs."
Crystal Garrett doesn't have a construction background, and she'll be the first to say so. She went anyway.
"I do not have the talent of construction, but I felt God saying, 'Give your time, talent, and money,'" she said. "Time is a very valuable resource for a lot of us. I got to meet great people, have a very good experience — and on my way home from the trip, I thought, I can't wait to go again."
Kevin, who describes himself as an introvert who usually works alone, ended up leading a crew.
"Being in front of other people, leading, put me in an uncomfortable situation," he said. "But I had to step up and lead, and we got a lot done in a very short amount of time. God gave me the skills to do a lot of different things, which made me the crew leader — and it really made me want to do this more often."
Hope, rebuilt alongside the houses.
Dawn spent time getting to know the families IDES was serving, and two stories stayed with her.
One was a young woman who lost more than her home — her land had washed away entirely. IDES didn't just rebuild her a house. They bought her new land to put it on.
"I don't know exactly what her relationship with Christ was beforehand, but she talks about Him constantly now," Dawn said. "She's returned the favor and is volunteering with IDES to help out other families who were affected."
Another family had been told by other groups that help was coming. For a year and a half, no one showed up. When IDES finally arrived and said, "We're getting ready to start on your house," Dawn said it was like they didn't believe it at first.
"IDES said, 'Here are your plan choices. What size house do you want? What colors do you want?' And the very next week, they were in there working on the house," Dawn said. "Just getting to know people on a personal level, and seeing the faith and the fact that they're still able to smile, still able to experience joy through this and share that joy with others — it was definitely life-changing."
What This Trip Reminded Us
Scripture doesn't tiptoe around suffering. It tells us God is "close to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18), and it calls us to "look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27) — to show up for people in the middle of loss, not just after it's cleaned up.
That's what this trip was, in the simplest terms. Not a group of people with all the answers showing up to fix everything. Just a team willing to swing a hammer, sit on a porch, and listen — trusting that showing up matters, and that God does the rest.
Every person who went came home saying some version of the same thing: they thought they were there to give something, and they left having received more than they gave.
Watch The Story
Want to Be Part of the Next Trip?
This ministry is new here at The Crossing, and it's just getting started. You don't need construction experience — you need a willingness to show up and serve. Before each deployment, we run an orientation and a field responders training so you know exactly what to expect. Click below to let us know you're interested in the next training.
If you've ever wondered whether you have something to offer in a moment like this, the honest answer from everyone who went is: yes, you do.