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Volume
8, Issue 1 2 |
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November
2005 |
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MidWest Missionair
is rapidly approaching our 10th anniversary. We are a
Christian service organization supporting missionaries,
and encouraging volunteers
to get involved. In 1999 we responded
to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and worked several years in that country
building homes. Last year we were
involved with the hurricane clean up in Florida. And now there is Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. And once again we
find ourselves heavily involved in the relief effort. More than half a
million families have been uprooted by
Katrina alone making this the largest displacement or human beings in America’s history. The area of
destruction and disruption is vast. It
is going to take a cooperative effort of
government and every available private organization to complete the
recovery. MidWest Missionair is just one component
in God’s network. Our job is to supply
other Christian
groups with transportation and volunteers, so that they can use their time more efficiently. |
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· In 1999 Honduras was
hit with a Hurricane Mitch, a 100-year storm that left 10’s of 1000’s
homeless. · MidWest
Missionair spent the next few years organizing volunteers to build houses
and drill
wells · Today something
very exciting is happening down there. · Locals are asking the missionaries to train them to take the gospel to their own
people. · It
began as a trickle but today the full time missionaries simply do not have time to do the relief work and teach. Can
something similar happen on our own Gulf Coast if Christians reach out
showing God’s love in a completely selfless way? |
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Hurricane Relief (Again) By Gordon
Blackie, Pres. |
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It takes 16 to 20
hours of hard driving to reach the affected areas from our base of operation
. MidWest Missionair can get there in just 3.5 hours. At this writing we
have made 12 round trips in support of other groups and the end is nowhere in
site. In fact it looks like we are
just getting started. The rebuilding has
not even started. Our trips so far
have fallen into two categories. On the first trips
we were asked to get health workers on the ground ASAP. Shortly after we
began transporting leaders of churches who were planning to take larger
groups later to assist with the rebuilding. As the rebuilding
gets under way we will be taking construction teams from a variety of
different churches and will organize
our own constructions teams. Your financial
support is frankly needed more now than ever before. Please consider funneling some of your
hurricane relief contribution to MidWest Missionair. |
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Gary Morsh of Heart-to-Heart in Olathe needed help
getting doctors to New Orleans. |
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• On the left is Harry Stewart - a Kansas City
psychiatrist • Fireman, Police, and city workers are both first
responders and victims of the storms. • Most have lost everything themselves and some have no
news from their families. • In many cases the mental stress outweighs the physical
needs. • Heart-to-Heart could use a few more men like Harry
right now. • On the right is Larry Hensen. • Larry is a veteran of the first Gulf War. He is Heart-to-Heart’s chief of operations
in New Orleans. • Larry had not been home to his family for three weeks. • At Gary Morsh’s insistence Larry came back with us one
night then returned to New Orleans on the next morning’s flight just 12 hours
later |
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From
right to left • Dr Richard Prim, pastor of Kansas City Community Church • Peter Willems - pastor from Lawrence • Doug Bachtel of College Church of the Nazarene, Olathe • Nate Rovenstine, pastor of Lawrence Wesleyan Church. • Tom Bassford - associate pastor of Indian Creek
Community Church, Olathe • Gordon Blackie—President of MidWest Missionair • Jerry Brockhaus - Chief Pilot of MidWest Missionair These
leaders traveled to New Orleans to plan future relief efforts. Their goal is
to involve 100 Kansas City Churches |
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Volunteers come from
everywhere: • Retirees in the motor homes • A group from a church in Tennessee • Workers from several Billy & Franklin Graham
organizations • And a young man that just got in his car and came to
help. |
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This Moss Point, MS couple’s home looks OK from the
outside but the storm surge has ruined the inside. The good news—it is repairable. The bad
news—insurance companies will not pay because the damage was caused by “flooding”. |
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Less fortunate are those whose homes were literally
floated off their foundations by the storm surge. In these areas notices that
the remains will be bulldozed are everywhere.
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Imagine coming back to this and learning that your
insurance will not pay. |
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Overshadowing the physical needs is the
fact the most people have fled. • Except for a few areas, New Orleans is disserted. • Home Depot has imported employees from the north. • If your bank is open you stand in line to get in. • And Wal-Mart has so few employees that they will admit
only a few customers at a time so even there you have to wait in line to get
in. |
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A leadership team from Heartland Community
Church in Overland Park Kansas traveled to Laurel, MS and Moss Point, MS to
plan their relief effort. Right to
left are: • Eric Rochester—Director of Heartland Extension
Ministries International • James McClure—Heartland Disaster Relief Team • Andrew Dean—Heartland Disaster Relief Team |
