Final BBQ!

Nearly 30 people from Oak Park, IL, Burlington, IA, and Cedar Rapids gather for hotdogs, laughs, and a cool spot out the muggy heat.

Six flood recovery groups and five celebration cookouts are now in the books. Tonight marked our last night to roll out the red carpet, or at least the red-and-white checkered tablecloth. for an old fashioned Iowa picnic. Other commitments in the church building pushed our celebration picnic up to Tuesday which means unfortunately for our flood groups it's back to work tomorrow! At least the forecast calls for dry skies after a couple of unpleasant wet and muggy days. These two groups have been extremely productive. The Chicago-area group has nearly completed a privacy fence and the Burlington group has swelled in numbers during the day with a couple of people driving in for the day to work.

I've immensely enjoyed blogging over the past two summers and I've been blessed by all of your wonderful feedback. God has done something great through this format. Anytime someone Googles "Flood Recovery" and "Cedar Rapids" and "Lutheran" my blog pops up. This has led a number of people coast-to-coast literally to our doorstep. I am so grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit through you all. It has really touched my heart. This will likely be my last blog of the summer, but as you know the old news reporter in me may catch fire if anything develops. Thank you all again and God bless you in your continued work in your corner of the world in Jesus Christ.

Setting Their Sights High

Kelly O'Meara from Oak Park, IL points out the high water mark just under the window at the house where they are working. An unbelievable 31 feet of water swept through Cedar Rapids in 2008, leaving 1 in 5 people homeless.

It was an eye-opening and productive day one for our groups from Burlington and the windy city. They got a quick visual tour of the devastation and the mountain of work yet to climb for our community to make a full recovery. The Chicago group spent the day putting in a privacy fence on 10th Street in NW Cedar Rapids while the group from Burlington worked on a porch, some landscaping, and cleaned out a basement to paint later this week. Check out more photos by clicking the slide show in the upper right hand corner of this blog.

Land of Lincoln Melds with the Hawkeye State

Youth and Adults from Oak Park, IL and Burlington, IA pose for a picture just hours after meeting each other.

It was a little bit of country and a little bit of rock'n'roll. Bethany Lutheran Church near the cornfields of Burlington, IA and United Lutheran Church near Chicago. Two towns and one purpose: help the people of Cedar Rapids get back on our feet after the floods of 2008. Our final two flood recovery groups of the summer asked to stay with us on the same week and we said, "What the heck!" They come from different backgrounds but they are all sure to have the mission trip of a lifetime this week. Tonight I showed the youth and adults from the two churches around the building and told them a bit about the tragedy that struck our town two years ago. We capped off a wonderful night with a pizza party and had a few laughs together. I am just overjoyed they have come to help us and I'm as excited as they are for them to get to work tomorrow.

Pirates Take Over Cedar Rapids

Youth from St. Louis sport pirates eye patches in their fun closing worship after a productive week doing flood recovery.

It was a great way to wrap up a spirit-filled time with our new friends. We had a celebration BBQ tonight complete with cheeseburgers and hotdogs on the grill, Bill's famous peach cobbler and ice cream, capped off with a unique worship planned by the youth themselves. We watched a bit of Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean," sported eye patches, and gave thanks to God for transformed lives in Christ.

In perhaps their most challenging day yet, the youth broke up concrete with sledgehammers and shovels. They are paving the way for a new sidewalk to be poured which will beautify the formerly flooded neighborhood. Tonight they got to meet some of the people who have been helped by their type of work in the neighborhood and celebrate with food and fun. At last check well over 50% of homeowners are back into their homes; more and more continue to come home every day. Our community continues our journey on the mend and it's thanks in part due to the hard work and Christ's compassion of our new friends from the south.

Action Photos Requested!

You asked for more action photos and we answered! Check out more photos like these on our flickr site. You can click on the photo slide show playing at the top right or click here: action photos. Check back again later today & tomorrow as I'll be adding more as the week goes on. Today doesn't look to be quite as hot as yesterday. I think more yard work is on tap. I'm off to pay them a visit right now.

Taming the Jungle

The youth group from Lutheran Church of Atonement near St. Louis prepares for a blistering hot day two of flood recovery.

The heat index is supposed to flirt with 100 degrees today but that didn't seem to damper the spirits this morning of 13 young adults and four fearless leaders. Our friends from the Show Me State are doing more yard clean up today. Deb called a few minutes ago to say they are busting through what appears to be a junge with a home somewhere in the middle! It's hot, backbreaking work to be sure but it is SO much needed all throughout all the flood plain. Houses quickly turn into eyesores after a disaster. Think how much your lawn would grow after just a few months without cutting it; now think about not tending it for two years! The vines and weeds may be tough but they will prove no match to the power of God's love through these kids.

Missourians Invade Iowa!

Girls from Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Florissant, MO near St. Louis get ready to get squeaky clean after a busy and dirty day one

There are here! Our fourth flood group looks to be a lot of fun. They invited me to dinner with them Sunday night. After gulping down some of Bill's spaghetti, I rapped with them a bit about the upcoming week and my experience with the 2008 Flood. I told them they are an answer to our prayers; now it turns out they may be the answer to someone else's prayers. They worked on gutting out a basement today and cleaning up brush from a couple of yards in Cedar Rapids. In the afternoon Block-by-Block officials asked them if they would be interested in driving up to nearby Lake Delhi which suffered devastating flooding this past week when their dam broke. Read that story here. Whatever the week holds, they are sure to be in for a spiritual education in showing Christ's love to others. I'm so glad they are here and it's nice to have some authentic Cardinals fans around. :)

Youth Redefine "Staycation"

Amanda Halvorson and Tim Draeger paint on a universal sealant to keep moisture out of the walls at a flooded out home on J street in Southwest Cedar Rapids

One of the things I love about serving God is that every new day is full of surprises. It’s a lot like my former life as a TV News Reporter actually. One day I find myself knee deep in flash flooding helping to relocate a basement floor and the next I’m talking to a young man who is considering becoming a pastor. Today was such a day. All this week the younger members of our church serving God by rebuilding flooded homes right here in Cedar Rapids. They are having a “staycation” of sorts. They are sleeping in our church basement at night and busting their tails during the day on several houses destroyed by the great flood two years ago from last month. I can’t say enough about the heart of these young people to give a week of their busy summers (let’s face it – kids are busy these days) to help others in need. It’s Christ at work in us. And trust me, they feel God’s presence.

I stopped into a house today on J street SW and happened upon Amanda Halvorson, who is going to be a junior at Kennedy, and Tim Draeger, a future senior at Linn-Mar, laughing and having a good time. Hey, why not, right? The pair were slapping on white universal sealant with paint brushes on the inside of a bare wall on a day that’s predicted to reach a heat index of 106 degrees. Maybe the heat and paint were making them loopy or perhaps it was their good natured love for life. I’m going with the later.

I asked them if they could feel God with them while they work. Amanda emphatically nodded her head ‘yes’ and said, "We were working in a basement and there wasn’t any sunlight at all. Then suddenly a ray of light broke through from the floor above and we knew He was with us. It happens all the time." Tim asked me a few questions about seminary and said he was considering becoming a pastor. It was such a joy to discover. I can’t say enough about First Lutheran financially supporting Christ’s ministry that allows days like this to happen. Amanda and Tim’s lives are being shaped by this experience. Our community is being brought back to life. A future homeowner will be blessed. It's all because of God and it's because of you!

Nebraskans Leave Their Imprint on Iowa

A header over a new window displays freshly painted finger prints and a message from the heart of a Nebraska flood worker.

It was an idea as good as any I've heard all summer and it came from the humblest of hearts. Soft spoken Big Tom Olmstead helps our out-of-town flood crews get through the day out on the job site. He's a member of our church, a dedicated flood volunteer from day one, and over the last year has become a good friend of mine. He came to me yesterday with the clear concept. "I was thinking we could get a little pan of paint and have the workers each dip their fingers in it and leave their prints on the homes they have been working on," Tom told me. He said it came to him from a song he heard recently called "Finger Prints of God" by Steven Curtis Chapman. He told the workers this morning that they had left their mark figuratively on the homes they were improving, so why not do it literally? Smiles spread across the faces of our friends to the west as one by one they dipped their palms in the paint and placed their hands in different places throughout two homes where they have been working. They said prayers over the prints, scribbled hopeful messages, and left lines of scripture. It was a wonderful and powerful way to end a spirit-filled week of renewal of not only the houses they were renovating but also the hearts of those who filled them. Thanks, Tom!

Borders Dissolve in Worship

The dark line on the map marking the border between Iowa and Nebraska grew a little lighter Thursday night in Cedar Rapids. Our new friends from Omaha joined us for a party, BBQ, and at their request a spirit-filled worship filled with familiar hymns and a holy meal. We celebrated an amazing week together of growth in many ways. They came to us as a group of complete strangers just five short days ago and they leave tomorrow as lifelong friends. These brothers and sisters in Christ helped rebuild two homes in our community and they selflessly painted and mowed several others. They helped at the Mission of Hope, at Crossroads Mission, and around our church. They laughed, they prayed, they even sustained a few bumps and bruises, but most of all I think they grew spiritually. The will be the focus of my sermon this weekend as they have learned to walk the path that leads to the narrow door that Jesus talks about in Luke 13. They are the living hands and feet of Jesus Christ. After our fun BBQ with some people from First Lutheran, it was a pleasure for me to preach and preside over holy communion with them tonight. The people from Nebraska have such good hearts. They give me hope for our future as a city on the mend. Dare I say it, Go Big Red.

Bill's Birthday

Flood Crew Cook Bill Luxford celebrates a once-in-a-lifetime birthday in Cedar Rapids.

All the flood crew wanted to do was give a little back to a guy on his birthday who is gave so much of himself to them, but unfortunately it ended up in red lights and sirens. My cell phone started buzzing just after dinner on Monday. When I answered it was a member of the Nebraska flood crew staying in our building telling me not to panic, but that the fire department was on the way to our church.

A few days earlier one of the crew members called me asking if I knew a place to go dancing in Cedar Rapids on a Monday night. She said it was their cook, Bill's, birthday and he is a fun guy who likes to go dancing. I did some checking and made a few meager suggestions of different entertainment options and I remember thinking to myself whatever they end up doing I bet they are going to have a fun and memorable time. That turned out to be an understatement.

They decided to go with a surprise birthday cake topping with a flaming sparkler "5" and "8" for Bill's 58th year of life. When they came out of the kitchen swinging doors with the cake singing "Happy Birthday to you," I can almost visualize the smiles on their faces. They set the cake down on the table in front of Bill, but there was just one minor problem with the plan - the cake and it's flaming garnish were directly under the only ceiling smoke in the large dinning room. You can imagine their horror (and laughter) when the alarm started to go off. In fact, I bet they are STILL laughing as they read this now.

As Bill recalled to the story to a few of us on church staff the next day, his eyes lit up as he described getting to meet the fire fighters with his birthday hat on and getting to take his picture next to them. However they declined his inquiry to give him a ride on the fire truck, even though it was his actually birthday and he even offered to sweeten the deal with a piece of chocolate cake. Oh well. It was a watermark day in First Lutheran Flood Recovery and I'm sure it'll go down as one of Bill's most memorable birthdays ever. Happy Birthday, Bill!

Cultivating Hope

New life springs forth from a potted plant with a sign that reads “Cultivate Hope” while Diane Wagner from Omaha, NE in the background does just that.

The first day doing flood recovery is an eye-opening experience for almost every group who has stayed with us. Fortunately for some people with St Timothy Lutheran Church in Omaha, NE, it’s not completely new. Several members of their group traveled to the gulf coast last year to help recovery efforts there. Today these good-hearted Cornhuskers find themselves knee-deep in what government officials have tabbed the 5^th largest natural disaster on FEMA’s records since the Hurricane Katrina.

The Iowa Floods of ’08 were devastating. Nearly 1 in 5 Cedar Rapidians were left homeless. Slowly they are coming back with the help of strangers from all over Big Ten country from Pennsylvania to Nebraska. They are working with us through a group called Block-by-block that tries to bring back every home on one block thus giving new homeowners neighbors, safety, and a sense of community. The organization flips houses and sells them for what they were worth pre-flood, thus turning a small profit, which allows them to fix up more houses. The future homeowner gets a newly renovated house at a good price. Our community gets an entire block back. It’s a win-win-win.

Nebraska troops hit the ground

A shot of the group in our parking lot heading out to the first day of work in a flooded property in Cedar Rapids.

Eating scrambled eggs and crispy bacon this morning never tasted so good. Why? Perhaps because I was inhaling it with some nice folks an entire state away in anticipation of improving our community. Ironically, I just gave a sermon yesterday about God making us into good seeds that produce wheat and these fine folks just drove in from the wheat fields of Nebraska. Hmmm. Holy Spirit at work? Perhaps.

16 hard-working, spirit-filled people from Omaha, NE arrived last night and got settled in to the friendly confines (sorry Cubs fans) of the lower level of our church. The team of cooks got to work in preparing breakfast for today and the workers are now "hungry" to make a difference in our community. Our own members Dave DeWolfe and Tom Olmstead (hidden in the picture above) are guiding them to the job site just off of 6th Ave and 6th Street SW. They are working through the Block-the-Block program helping our community recover from the flood one entire block at at time. I am excited to be their host and have them in our midst through this Friday. We are already planning a celebration BBQ for them this Thursday night. Let us know if you can help out!

Nebraska Flood Workers Get Settled at FLC

Merle Schlines and Dean Heairet make their cots in the First Church Nursery. The men are with a group of 16 people from Omaha, Nebraska doing flood recovery through Block-by-Block and eating and staying at our church.

I had a fun night welcoming the group from St. Timothy's Church in Omaha, Nebraska tonight. I shared a bit about the flood that hit us two years ago, and we watched a video produced by Block-by-block. They are the second group we are hosting this summer from various parts of the country. God is so good. Look for more this week. We get underway at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow! Fun, fun.

Feeding Our Friends From Pennsylvannia

Above: Hugs and smiles were all around at tonight's celebration BBQ. Below: People from our church serve Iowa pork and Christian love as thanks to our friends from Pennsylvania.

You might say to yourself driving across five states seems pretty extreme to help someone in need, and you'd be right. So what do you say about a group of people who do it two years in a row? I guess you say THANK YOU! The people of First Lutheran did just that tonight. We threw open the doors, turned on the music, put out brightly colored tablecloths, and fired up the grill for a good old fashioned cook-out. Tom Olmstead, Everett Collins, and Joe Musil grilled some wonderful Iowa pork and chicken breasts. About a dozen other people from the church welcomed, served, and ate alongside our friends from Pennsylvania. A group of 23 people made the trek this year to do flood recovery work in Cedar Rapids, about the same size group that came last year. Many of them have come two years in a row. Every night the work crew came back to eat at our church, but tonight we gave their cooks the night off and treated them to a party! We're looking to do the same next Thursday for our group coming from Omaha if you'd like to help out.

Renovare...in the community

Ellen Collins and Jeanie DeWolf bring God's love to a house touched by the flood.

Following a recent study on transforming discipleship, our Renovaré small groups took to the streets with other people from our church family to help heal the destruction of the floods of 2008. While some baked 45 dozen chocolate chip cookies in the church kitchen to feed hungry volunteers, others peeled shingles off roofs, pulled up sidewalk forms, and painted everything from sheds to bathrooms to foundations in the Time Check area with Block By Block, an organization that works to rebuild neighborhoods destroyed by the flood. If you would like to be part of a small group that not only studies together, but also serves together, please call Marcie Watson, Director of Spiritual Transformation, at (319) 365-1494 or email marciew@firstlutherancr.org.

2010 Flood Recovery Launches!

Today's Shopping Trip with the Penn State Fans officially kicked off our summer of flood recovery.

My heart picked up a few beats as I rocked back and forth from my heels to my toes in the entryway of Wal-Mart in Northeast East Cedar Rapids. I was anxious to meet Glenda and Shirley, two ladies responsible for cooking and tending after a crew of 23 big-hearted people from Pennsylvania. More than anything, today's meeting symbolized First Lutheran's official kickoff to 2010 flood recovery.

We were blessed this year to receive a grant from the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation to financially support 6 groups coming from out-of-state to stay at our church and do flood recovery work. Finally Glenda's broad smile and pleasant voice ended my anxious wait as she approached me. "Pastor Craig?" "Yes, Glenda!" I replied and our work was quickly underway. We shopped for all kinds of goodies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next five days with one exception...eggs. Glenda and Shirley carted six dozen eggs across five states in a cooler in their backseat. Apparently someone from their church donated them and the ladies wanted to honor that. So every day they will wake up with Pennsylvania eggs in Iowa!

If you are looking for a way to support these groups, we could use your help with BBQ and party from 5-7 p.m. each Thursday night we have a group here. We are planning our first cookout this Thursday. There will be another one next Thursday as well. Please Contact Pastor Craig to see how you can pitch in.

June Help on the Way!

I just got off the phone with a nice group of people from Pennsylvania who are set to arrive Monday June 14th and leaving Friday, June 18th. They will be staying in a hotel and using our kitchen during the day to prep and serve meals. I am excited to be their host and help take them shopping for food. I applied for and our church received a Flood Grant from the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation to financially support the many groups coming in this summer.

Our small but mighty flood team is working on having a huge BBQ on the Thursday of each week an out-of-town flood group stays with us. The first one would tentatively be Thursday June 17th. We're looking for people to cook, serve food, clean-up, eat and socialize with our guests. Please let me know if you can help!

New Year, New Direction for Flood Recovery at First Lutheran

We are on the cusp of some exciting changes at FLC in the way we do flood recovery! In 2008 we helped people flee to safety, we mucked and gutted their homes, and we held their hands and cried with them over their tragic loss. In 2009, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work! We reached out to our members and beyond to the community to help three families rebuild their homes and their lives. We celebrated the one year anniversary by holding a community picnic and helped kids recover through Camp Noah. We canvassed flooded neighborhoods to help the city assemble a massive flood recovery map. Now it's 2010 and we have a new mission.

The Holy Spirit is at work, my friends. Due to the success of this blog reaching throughout the country and our daycare recently vacating space in our building, a number of out-of-town work groups have expressed to me their interest in wanting to come and stay with us to help. Ask yourself, how might you fit into that plan? Could you help cook meals? Could you provide rides? Might you provide some summer entertainment for our guests or even be a friendly face greeting people around the church? Would you like to roll up your sleeves and do a little rebuilding alongside of them? Do you or someone you know have a house that needs worked on?

We have the space to house groups at our church. I am also working with a group in Wisconsin who would like to move their shower trailer from an area affected by Hurricane Katrina to our church parking lot for this summer only. In addition, we have a couple of key guys who recently retired in our congregation that have approached me about leading rebuilding teams. I still feel called to be a host and help co-coordinate flood recovery, even if it's in a reduced role this summer as I feel out being a first call pastor.

I've contacted the teams coming in and encouraged them to sign up with First United Methodist in Marion here: http://fumcmarion.org/Flood/index.html to get involved in the block-by-block program. I'm also praying heavily for the Holy Spirit's guidance for additional work for them if we need it and asking for your help in every way that you can offer it. Bring on 2010! Let's be the hands and feet of Christ in our community.