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United Methodists offer leadership, words of hope

NOTE: Photographs and related coverage are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodist leaders offered words of hope Sept. 7 as the Gulf Coast
region continued to struggle back from the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina.

The church took out a full-page ad in USA Today, a prominent clergyman
appeared on NBC's "Today" show and a United Methodist bishop in the
region issued a letter to members urging help for the United Methodist
Committee on Relief.

UMCOR, meanwhile, had staff throughout the gulf states assessing damage,
organizing aid and helping the church's annual (regional) conferences
plan their response.

"We've got a lot of sorrow, yet everywhere I look, I see church people
looking out for the missing and the most vulnerable," said the Rev. Paul
Dirdak, UMCOR executive director, during a Labor Day weekend trip to
Mississippi.

UMCOR was invited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
Mississippi office to play an advisory role for federal disaster
management planners in that state. The church agency said its experience
in managing large numbers of displaced people in developing countries
led to the invitation from FEMA. Transitional housing is a top priority
for UMCOR as it works with FEMA and ecumenical agencies on a long-term
plan.

Dirdak and other UMCOR staff participated in planning meetings in
Jackson, Miss., the site of one of FEMA's disaster operations centers,
during the Labor Day weekend.

One of the United Methodist Church's historical sites in Mississippi,
Gulfside Assembly, will be featured on NBC's "Dateline" Sept. 9. The
show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Gulfside, in the coastal town of
Waveland, was destroyed when Hurricane Katrina made landfall Aug. 29,
according to reports from the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.

'Be the Hope'

In the USA Today ad, the United Methodist Church called upon people of
all faiths to "be the hope" and to support relief efforts through
volunteering and giving. The ad was placed by United Methodist
Communications.

"It's important for us as a church to say to the people of the Gulf
Coast that we are concerned, and that we are praying with them and will
be with them through the entire long recovery process," said the Rev.
Larry Hollon, top staff executive of United Methodist Communications.
"We as a church can send a message to the whole of the United States, if
not to the world, at times like these that community is important, that
we need each other, that sharing with each other is a healing process.
It restores the brokenness."

The ad showed a couple embracing in front of the ruins of a home. The
text, in part, stated: "Through this crisis, people of all faiths are
coming together to aid those they have never met. Many are opening their
hearts, their minds and their doors to feed, clothe, and give shelter.
When we work together for the good of all, we achieve our best, we heal
our broken community and we restore hope."

The ad closed by mentioning UMCOR.

Speaking out

In the Gulf Coast region, Bishop Larry Goodpaster of the Alabama-West
Florida Conference issued a statement to United Methodists in his area.
Hurricane Katrina primarily affected the Mobile, Ala., area.

"Across our conference, churches are opening their doors and hearts to
receive persons displaced by this storm," Goodpaster said. In the weeks
ahead, work teams, clean-up crews and volunteers will be needed not only
in the conference but also in neighboring states, he said. "We will also
be working closely with the Mississippi and Louisiana conferences as we
respond to their needs."

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist
Church and a friend of President George Bush - a fellow United Methodist
- appeared on the "Today" show to talk about the interfaith response to
the disaster. Houston churches are working together in a major outreach
to help evacuees who have flooded into their area.

Irv White, Windsor Village director of marketing, said Caldwell is a key
player in Operation Compassion, "which is an interfaith effort in the
Houston area to offer a more holistic approach to what's going on with
the survivors here." White also confirmed that the pastor and Bush have
spoken a number of times in recent days about the disaster.

Missions update

The Board of Global Ministries has posted online updates of several
mission institutions related to it that suffered major damage from the
hurricane:

-St. Mark's Community Center in New Orleans' French Quarter was
submerged in water when that city's levees broke.

-Moore Community House in Biloxi, Miss., sustained heavy damage but was
still standing. The center suffered mildew damage from flooding and the
playground was destroyed.

-Dulac Community Center in Louisiana sustained roof damage.

-MacDonell United Methodist Children's Services in Houma, La., suffered
minor damage.

-In Mississippi, Meridian's Wesley House Community Center suffered
substantial property damage from rain and a tree crashing into the
building but was still operating.

-The Mississippi Rural Center in Columbia was standing but power and
phone services were not available.

-The Wood Institute in Mathiston, Miss., lost trees and power but was
housing 55 evacuees in a Red Cross-sponsored shelter.

Also operational were Bethlehem Center in Jackson, which sustained minor
damage, and Dumas Wesley Center in Mobile, Ala., which suffered wind
damage, according to the Board of Global Ministries.

Donations to support the United Methodist response can be made online at
www.methodistrelief.org and by phone at (800) 554-8583. Checks can be
written to UMCOR, designated for "Hurricanes 2005 Global," Advance No.
982523, and left in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR,
P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068.

Information on providing health kits, flood buckets and other relief
through UMCOR is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org