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If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. ~ 1 Corinthians 12:26a

God works in powerful ways. Just one week into the Emergency Winter Freeze Appeal we’re nearly halfway towards our goal. If you gave, we encourage you to invite your friends. If you haven’t given, it only takes a few minutes. DONATE HERE.

Your generous gifts will support people like our siblings in Christ at St. Paul Lutheran church in Baytown.

As I joined them in worship yesterday, a third of the congregation raised their hands when asked how many received damage to their homes. A third. That’s a lot of suffering.

During the freeze St. Paul’s Director of Music came down the stairs from practicing the organ.  He heard a popping sound, as pipes burst in the Viking above the church kitchen. Water flooded. St. Paul’s damage is not as bad as some other congregations, but they have their hands full.

Each week they have a food distribution in their parking lot for low-income families, they are serving around 125/week, which is up from 80-100/week prior to the pandemic. They talk with all who drive up and pray with them when requested. Prayer. Food. St. Paul is being the church in a pandemic.

It’s a familiar story. Even as members deal with their own damaged homes and flooded church buildings, they serve their neighbors. Generous gifts from all over the country allows the Gulf Coast Synod to walk with these siblings in Christ, providing critically needed resources to help people survive and rebuild.

When their church flooded in Hurricane Harvey a few years ago I preached on the Cleansing of the Temple in which Jesus compares his body to the Temple. “Tear down this Temple and in three days I will build it up.” He was talking about his body. He predicted the destruction of the temple, his crucifixion and his resurrection, a timely text.

Now we serve as the body of Christ in the world. It is good to be church together. Thank you for helping to rebuild lives and faith communities.

The North/West Lower Michigan Synod will provide $5,000 when 400 donors give gifts of any size. Once we meet that matching goal (we’re at 57 donors now) we’re over $43,000 in giving, a wonderful beginning to this appeal. In the coming weeks we will greatly expand the number of people invited to give as we partner with congregations throughout the Gulf Coast Synod.

Please prayerfully consider the giving chart and DONATE right now and make a generous donation to help us make a difference in a difficult situation. THANK YOU!