Monday, June 2, 2014

Hurricanes Are Not Our Friends, or Are They? 
June 1, 2014

Covenant members participating in cleanup in 2004.
It's been around a decade since our area has been seriously affected by a hurricane. This is great news for us; however, if and when a hurricane hits our area again, what will we do? Will we be ready to help ourselves, let alone our neighbors?

Keith Perry is a deacon at our church and he also represents MNA's (Mission to North America) Disaster Response efforts in Eastern and Central Florida. In recent years, MNADR has seen an uptick in the number of volunteers that have been responding to the disasters that occur in our country.

The MNA Disaster Response Trailer
is a key to getting the job done!
"We recently celebrated a major milestone; the mobilization of our 100,000th disaster response volunteer. Even with the record number of folks serving with us there is an apparent perception that folks need to be highly trained to serve with us; that is a misconception that we constantly strive to correct. We re-organized disaster response into a grassroots effort during 2006 to engage as many folks as possible going forward and the PCA has confirmed this strategic change by responding in unequaled numbers since then."


Two of our elders taking part in the
response to our last major hurricane.
This is all great news, but what does this have to do with us? Well, if a hurricane were to hit our area, Keith and the MNA would be the suppliers of any resources that we need to get ourselves and our neighborhood back on its feet. While the MNA is a pool of resources, we still need to be prepared to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a time of destruction and hardship for many. Although, in a bad way, a hurricane is devastating, on the other hand if we are ready to take action, we can build a bridge for the healing and hopeful gospel into the lives of our neighbors by simply offering them aid in a time of need.

What can we do about it? There are two things:

1) We are trying to breath some life back into our Chainsaw Ministry. This is a group of folks who would be willing to be an on-call volunteer in case a disaster hits our area. You do not need to be a professional or even know how to run a chainsaw. As Keith said, you do not need to be highly trained. You simply need a heart for your neighbors and the gospel. If you are interested in signing up for this team, please email me at rkent@covenantpalmbay.org.

2) On Saturday, June 7, the Ironmen breakfast is hurricane readiness themed. We are offering free Hurricane Readiness Inspections to the elderly and single moms in our congregation and will be performing all of our regular Ironmen fix-em-up duties. If you would like to attend and/or you have a need that needs to be met. Please visit Ironmen Eat & Serve to sign up.


For more information on MNA Disaster Response: pcamna.org/disaster-response/