Pastor Greenlee shows Mark Vance destruction from huge oak trees.

View more photos from Baton Rouge and Alexandria, La.

Listen Listen to a conversation between Pastors Schupmann and Greenlee regarding the huge oak trees that fell during Hurricane Gustav.

Support for hurriance relief can be found on “More Gifting Opprtunities” under Hurricane Relief.

To volunteer contact Mark Vance at mark.vance@wels.net.

To borrow the words of a past Synod President; “All that has needed to be said has been said about the subject, it just hasn’t been said by everyone.” So it is that everything has probably been said that needs to be said about the Katina Relief Project at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in New Orleans, La. (Except maybe that now it is officially ended). But please allow me to add my thoughts.

A week ago Sun., April 20, Crown of Life conducted a special worship service and threw an old fashion southern crawfish boil to thank the nearly 1,200 volunteers who came over the past two and a half years to help restore their church, fellowship hall, parsonage, and homes in their community. The church sign read “Thanks for bringing us home.” It was a bright sunny day, just perfect for the event. Our Synod President and other past volunteers came many miles to help make the event that much more special.

The pastor of the congregation, Pastor David Sternhagen delivered the sermon of the day and as usual, put things in the right perspective for us. He said many times in his sermon; “That we saw it with our own eyes.” (Meaning members, volunteers and community members). Highlighting the many wondrous and sometimes miraculous things the Lord either did for us or though us during and after the hurricane. And then the thank you’s started. Pastor, on behalf of the congregation thanked the volunteers, President Schroeder thanked the volunteers and the congregation for his opportunity to serve and for their partnership in sharing the gospel with the community. Pastor Schupmann thanked the volunteer coordinators and congregational leaders for their service, and we all thanked the Lord for giving us all things through his Son who died for us on the cross so we could live and serve Him and each other.

After the service, the crawfish was dumped on the picnic tables, the band began to play, and people hugged and laughed and shed tears of joy. Tours were given of some of the homes restored, and the thank you’s continued. It was a fitting end to a truly blessed project.

As I reflect back on this relief project and the others I have had the honor and privilege to serve, though each has been completely different and the volunteers who have come to serve are rarely the same folks, the end result is always the same:

1. that salvation through Christ crucified is faithfully proclaimed and;
2. that virtually every volunteer goes away with the perception that they received spiritually more out of their service than the people they served received out of labor from them.

For this, I think I can speak for everyone who has ever volunteered on one of our relief teams. Only one thank you is necessary, THANK YOU LORD. “Not unto us Lord, but unto you be honor and praise.”

Mark Vance
WELS Committee on Relief
Disaster Relief Project Coordinator

My first stop was with Pastor Kapler in Mountain Home, Ark. I arrived there at 9:30 a.m. after a three hour mountain drive through freezing rain. Not fun. I met with Pastor Kapler and five members. One member, Shawn Taylor, is the region’s Thrivent Representative and one of the first volunteers into New Orleans after Katrina. After much discussion, they concluded that they would like to organize a clean up/rebuilding effort similar to New Orleans, but felt they had enough local volunteers to accomplish it. Mr. Taylor will check into Thrivent matching funds. They realize that FEMA and the Red Cross are handling the short term needs and they are focusing their efforts on the long term. They have appointed a coordinator and they will begin to try to identify the families they will assist. I told them we stand ready to assist them with consultation and possible additional funding. I toured the area with Pastor Kapler and the newly appointed coordinator and then took them to lunch. I recommended that they open a separate bank account for the money designated for their project. Pastor Kapler had noted that he was already receiving donations.

I left them at 1:30 p.m. heading for Russellville, Ark., (two and a half hour trip). Got there at 4 p.m., just in time to meet with Pastor Schwerin. The church in Russellville is very small with only about 18 active members. We toured the area near Atkins, Ark. This tornado was much more powerful than the one in Mountain Home - (F4 vs F2). He discussed a few possibilities as candidates for relief funds, which all sounded appropriate to me and I encouraged him to use his discretion as to the distribution of funds. He then asked about giving some of the funds to a local Bank that had set up a “General” relief fund that would disperse funds through an application process. He said they had about $40,000 in the fund and they were anticipating about 100 applicants, which means each applicant would only get about $400 a piece. He wondered if some of our funds could be given to that. I told him that would be fine.  After our visit he said he felt clearer about how the funds should be used and thanked me for helping him identify some prospects that could use some assistance. He said he would contact Pastor Schupmann about the bank possibility and that he would send in the transfer information. I left him at about 6 p.m. more convinced than ever that “in person” visits are vital (when possible).

In Christ,

Mark S. Vance
Disaster Relief Project Coordinator
WELS Committee On Relief
mark.vance@wels.net

In the fall of 2007, the Committee on Relief and the WELS Military Services Committee entered into a joint agreement to share Mark’s services. So, along with being a disaster relief coordinator, he is the Director of Programs and Communication for the Military Services branch of WELS Special Ministries.

Married to his wife Dawn for 32 years, they have been blessed with three children and six grandchildren. Mark and Dawn are members at St. John’s Oakwood in Oak Creek, Wis.

• I am in Mobile, Ala., to assess the needs of our congregation here (Saving Grace Lutheran Church) and offer any assistance we may give as they reach out to the victims of Katrina in their communities.
• We visited members’ homes and the coastal areas that we believed were the hardest hit. We started out heading south from Mobile to the lower Ala. coast and then took Hwy 90 along the coast as far as we could (some areas of the road were washed away) to Biloxi, Mis., and then up to I-10 East to complete the circle back to Mobile.

September 21, 2005 - Assessment

• The reason Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as the worst ever isn’t because it was the strongest. It will be because of the size and the amount of damage and death it inflicted. Most hurricanes effect one or maybe two cities or areas. Katrina’s storm surge flooded to some extent coastal areas from Mobile, Ala., all the way to New Orleans, La. That is unprecedented, and when the levies failed, we had our worst natural disaster, ever.
• I see the greatest opportunities for compassion and outreach that I have ever seen. Lets role up our sleeves and get to work, it will be a long haul, may the Lord be with us.