The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance solidarity visit following Hurricanes Milton and Helene concluded last week with a day in Holston Presbytery in Tennessee, where resilience, innovation and togetherness were on display just as they were throughout the 10-day visit.
The next-to-last day of the solidarity visit Presbyterian Disaster Assistance held with churches and mid councils affected by the September hurricanes focused on Salem Presbytery in north-central North Carolina.
The Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson, Co-Moderators of the 226th General Assembly (2024) , joined members of Foothills Presbytery and two staff from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance for a time of sharing on Tuesday at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina.
With several tables full of clergy and lay people gathered at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday as part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s solidarity visit to hurricane-affected communities, the Rev. Jim Kirk set the tone by drawing on the wisdom of consolation and desolation posited by St. Ignatius and taught to Kirk by the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, the PC(USA)’s Director of Humanitarian and Global Ecumenical Engagement and the former director of PDA.
Hurricane-damaged Westminster By-the-Sea Presbyterian Church in Daytona Beach Shores has been a blessing to its community and to other PC(USA) churches by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service DAYTONA BEACH… Read more »
Just a few days before visitors from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Synod of South Atlantic, the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, together with the Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for the interim unified agency, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, arrived at Maximo Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday, “this place looked awful,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Bobby Musengwa.
On Wednesday, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance spent the first day of a 10-day solidarity tour with staff from the Synod of South Atlantic and Peace River Presbytery hearing from some of the faith communities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
A spirit of solidarity and hope was evident throughout a prayer service hosted by the Synod of South Atlantic last weekend to comfort those trying to rebound from recent storms — particularly Hurricane Helene and its more recent cousin, Milton — and to lift up those assisting survivors.
As then-tropical storm Ernesto neared Puerto Rico earlier this week, the director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance briefed colleagues on the storm that was to come.
