A Sierra Leone resident recently said that the drive from Kenema to the Liberian border is like riding six hours inside of a concrete mixer. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegates visiting the region agreed with this assessment after making the trip on the all-dirt road.
The ‘Flint Water Crisis’ video story in the June 2016 ‘Keeping Faith’ segment with Tony De La Rosa, Interim Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, has received a Telly Awards honor.
While violence and fear continue to pervade war-torn Syria, Presbyterians across the United States are helping those displaced by the conflict rebuild their lives. Since the war began in 2011, at least 13.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes and seek safety in Lebanon, Jordan, Europe and the United States. The United Nations estimates 400,000 others have been killed in the conflict.
A week after an EF2 tornado tore a path through parts of New Orleans, disaster officials and volunteers are still trying to determine the extent of damage. The National Weather Service confirmed that 12 tornadoes struck seven states on February 7.
Residents along the deep south and Gulf Coast have begun to dig out from the damage left behind following an outbreak of tornadoes over the weekend. From January 21 through the 23, as many as 29 tornadoes swept across six states, leaving as many as 20 people dead, hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed and scattered power outages through out.
In an apparent random act of violence, the education wing of St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, Texas was extensively vandalized last Saturday evening. Officials believe the vandals gained entry to the building by breaking windows around 8:00pm and then continued their rampage until 4:20am Sunday when a church steward arrived and startled them away.
Presbyterian churches located within a few miles of the Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport are still trying to wrap their minds around last Friday’s shootings that left five people dead and several injured. The suspect, Esteban Santiago, 26, appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Monday and could possibly face the death penalty.
It’s been over a month since fire broke out in an Oakland, California warehouse, known as Ghost Ship, killing 36 people. Just before Christmas, members of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s National Response Team, were invited to visit the community and meet with faith leaders.
The past year has been a challenging one for communities dealing with contaminated water supplies. Flint, Michigan has garnered national attention for nearly three years after improper source treatment caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water. Between 6,000 and 12,000 residents have experienced a series of health problems including high levels of lead in the blood.
Fire officials in Inglewood, Tennessee are still trying to determine the exact cause of two separate fires at the Eastminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday. The first fire was extinguished quickly, according to Pastor Gilbert Varela.
