SWANNANOA, NC, (BRN) – Mere steps were all that stood between Kathie Aiken and an 80-foot Oak tree that moments earlier securely sat next to the Aikens’ home in North Carolina.
“I heard a crack, and immediately felt a push in my back, pushing me toward the porch, and I ran. I ran hard,” recalled Kathie, who nearly escaped the tumbling tree.
Spurred by the winds of Hurricane Helene, the 80-foot Oak was not the only tree to touch down on Dewey and Kathie Aiken’s property, nor the only side effect of the tropical cyclone to disrupt the lives of those living in North Carolina.
For several years, Dewey and Kathie Aiken have worked as the Baptists on Mission On-Site Coordinators for the Pennsylvania/North Carolina Partnership.
They have worked alongside many churches in Pennsylvania, encouraged hundreds of PA and South Jersey pastors, spent their summers serving in the north and have been an integral part of churches affiliated with the Baptist Resource Network (BRN) benefiting from the Appalachian Christmas Backpack Outreach.
These tremendous partners have served the BRN and its churches well. Through Hurricane Helene relief efforts, Pennsylvania churches were recently able to return the favor.
Just before Thanksgiving, Nov. 20-26, volunteer teams from churches and campus ministries in Pennsylvania traveled south to meet Kenton Hunt, PA/SJ Director of Disaster Relief, in Swannanoa, North Carolina.
Collectively, this group of 12 volunteers from PA represented Wrightsdale Baptist Church, King’s Fellowship, Big Woods Bible Church, New Life Campus Ministry at Penn State University and New Life Campus Ministry at PennWest California University. The collegiate portion of the team was led by BRN Associate Next Gen Director Eric Rieber.
The Pennsylvania team was also joined by BRN Executive Director Dr. Barry Whitworth and his wife, Beth, as well as additional Disaster Relief (DR) teams who traveled from Hawaii, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia.
“Seeing God rise up and bringing his church together was the most exciting thing for me…the sacrifice that comes with serving God was evident and that was beautiful,” said Beth Whitworth.
A mission trip of many firsts
During the team’s time in Swannanoa, volunteers worked to remove mud from homes, dispose of storm debris from underneath and around residences, chop up fallen trees and prepare houses for the rebuild stage, which was familiar work for Wrightsdale’s Team Leader Tom Worrell.
“I’ve been a volunteer firefighter for 20 some years, and I knew for a lot of that kind of stuff, they don’t really pull from volunteer fire departments. They do it through the paid departments,” explained Worrell.
Eager to find a way to get involved, Worrell put a plea out to his fellow church members at Wrightsdale. He held an interest meeting and slowly started to build a team. Soon, he had enough people to leave Lancaster County and head to the river town of Swannanoa, North Carolina, for his first mission trip.
“Helping people has always been kind of close to my heart. So, to be able to do the physical help, plus the spiritual health on top of it, was a little bit different for me,” said Worrell.
He continued: “But [it] also was a huge blessing just being with the other people – crews from Pennsylvania and the Baptist on Mission people from North Carolina – it was a big blessing to be part of that group.”
When it came to firsts, Worrell was in good company.
Anna Stewart, a senior at PennWest California University, has previously participated in BRN next gen mission trips, and, even, worked alongside Reiber and some of the Penn State students before, but Swannanoa was her first disaster relief experience.
“It was very eye opening to see everything that happened down there, because it was on the news, but it was only on the news when it first happened. After it happened, everybody forgot about it, [but] people’s lives are still uprooted and destroyed because of what happened,” said Stewart.
For Penn State University Senior Liz Gibbs, this was her first mission trip partnering with a Southern Baptist Convention entity.
“I was really impressed and just struck by how organized everything was…people were just really into what needed to be done,” said Gibbs.
She continued: “I think the focus was really on God and loving other people and not on, like, what the trip was for ourselves…[and] I just really felt the unity of the Church in that.”
As reported by Hunt, at this time, Southern Baptists have collectively provided 1,071,579 hot meals for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton victims (in and outside of North Carolina). Additionally, 4,678 clean-up jobs have been completed, and Southern Baptists have witnessed 243 professions of faith in Christ through these relief efforts.
For seven straight weeks, BRN Disaster Relief deployed volunteers to southern states. Jointly, Pennsylvania/South Jersey churches have sent 65 volunteers from 23 churches to serve in areas impacted by Helene and Milton.
“What they accomplished for the Kingdom of God is part of the larger picture of the efforts of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief,” said Hunt.
Presently, NC Baptists on Mission (BOM) is shifting to “Essential Rapid Repair” (ERR), which means BOM will be coordinating all future teams. BRN churches are urged to connect with Baptists on Mission and to sign up through their portal to continue aiding in hurricane relief efforts. At least eight locations will be ready for volunteers by Jan. 1.
A mission trip close to home
While this trip was filled with new experiences for many on the PA team, for others it was a step closer to home.
Just down the road from where the team was staying, sat the church where Beth Whitworth’s mother met Jesus. Her mom was baptized in the creek behind the church. A little further down the road was Beth’s grandfather’s house.
“It was very hard when we drove into Swannanoa. I didn’t think it was going to affect me the way it did, because we’ve been to other hurricane disasters…I wasn’t expecting the emotional ties that I had to the area and the people, just seeing that devastation and how their world has changed forever,” expressed Whitworth.
Whitworth’s immediate family moved to Maryland before she was born and remained there, but she still has a cousin living in the Swannanoa area.
“Her house that she lives in now was not damaged, but the house that she grew up in was actually right behind the church where we stayed, and that whole community is wiped out,” said Whitworth.
Also feeling the emotional weight of the devastation was Verl, a long-time friend of Eric Reiber and former local. Reiber and Verl met during their college years, when they were both attending a college ministry at Virginia Tech.
When Reiber reached out to Verl about joining their mission team it was an easy ‘yes’ as the team ended up working in a neighborhood that was merely a half mile away from where Verl grew up.
He made sure the PA team shopped locally to boost the town’s economy and took the crew to one of his favorite hometown restaurants.
Thinking of his friend, Reiber remarked: “This trip to Asheville was different because the disaster was so recent. We arrived less than two months after the hurricane hit. Homes were still being gutted, piles of debris were everywhere, bridges were still closed, and cars and trucks still lay overturned along the banks of the river.”
He continued: “It was also fresh in the minds of the residents. When we attended church in Swannanoa, you could still see the hurt on the faces of the people, while the halls were filled with inventory to help the locals in need.”
Noticing this along with Reiber was one of the college students that came with him to North Carolina. Reiber shared that the student later commented on this contrast of hurt and hope, saying, “there was just so much damage everywhere. But there were glimpses of hope and restoration.”
A mission trip sweetened by partnership
Along with presenting Bibles to homeowners and praying with them, a highlight echoed by much of the PA team was a project that was not originally part of their work schedule.
Sunday (Nov. 24) after church, the team’s afternoon was wide open. So, Hunt made a call to Dewey and Kathie Aiken. Once again, the team rolled up their sleeves, but this time to help out some familiar faces.
At the Aiken’s home, several trees had since joined the fate of the life-threatening Oak tree that nearly missed Kathie, leaving much of their property covered with uprooted trees.
“It’s amazing how God worked a plan together. Kathie and I had four major trees fall near our home and we would get some of it up, but this team came in with chainsaws,” exclaimed Dewey.
He continued: “I praise the Lord for these young, strong bucks, who have the strength to lift these big logs. Also amazing about how the young women worked right in there…everybody worked together…just delightful young people coming to help us and that was a joy.”
One tree at a time, the PA team cleared the Aiken’s land and chopped up the massive trees into firewood, so that Dewey and Kathie could share it with their neighbors.
“God took care of us all and He has used the experience of these trees coming down and the volunteers coming in to help us to be able to share more with our neighbors about God’s grace and share the gospel,” said Kathie.
On the morning of the Oak tree falling, an hour before the natural giant collapsed, Kathie was having her quiet time with the Lord.
As rain barreled down on their home and the wind whipped outside, Kathie prayed, asking, “Lord, I don’t have a clue what today is, what you’re going to do with this day, but will you please use it to glorify yourself, whatever happens.”
First time mission trips happened. Hometowns being cared for happened. The Church working alongside one another happened. Kingdom partnership happened.
“He (God) was in charge of that whole thing…[and] he’s used all of that for His glory,” proclaimed Kathie.
BRN churches desiring to participate in Hurricane Helene relief efforts still happening in North Carolina can get connected with Baptists on Mission and learn more here. Churches wanting to give to hurricane relief efforts can do so here.
