Dear Friends of Energize Ministries,
As I write this, much of the Southeast is preparing for major hurricane Irma and the pending damage that is to come. It seems like an unprecedented season of disasters coming together- even as our team just returned from a relief and evaluation trip to the Houston, TX area.
What we found in Texas was overwhelming and heartbreaking. In some places, entire communities are still under water. In other areas people are ripping their interior walls down and throwing furniture and piles of personal belongings to the curb to be hauled off to the landfill.
In all of these communities there are pastors and other caregivers who are being pulled on and called upon for the physical, spiritual, financial and emotional needs of their communities. Many of them have had their own homes and places of worship underwater and have sustained significant damage making it all the more difficult for them to support and serve their own parishioners during these very difficult times.
Our friends at PastorServe recently informed us that within three years of a large scale disaster like this 50% of the pastors and ministry leaders in the area will move away or leave their ministries because they are unable to withstand the added stress. Unfortunately, many churches will also close without our help and support.
