Disaster Response Team
CCM Disaster Response to the Palisades Fire 3-30-25 to 4-6-25
I spent the week as a Chaplain ministering to homeowners who lost their homes in the fire and to others encountered on the way to ministry sites. The fire in the Pacific Palisades area of Southern California (“The Palisades”) started on 1/7/2025 at 10:30 am. It was...
Previous Deployments:
CCM Disaster Response to Rogers, Arkansas from 7-21 through 7-28-2024
This is a summary of Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Chaplaincy deployment to Rogers, Arkansas from 7-21 through 7-28-2024 I was asked to deploy to Northwest Arkansas for a tornado response and when I signed up, I realized that this was the area of Northwest Arkansas...
Calvary Chapel Tallahassee, Florida July 7 – 14th Deployment
Blessed Week for Samaritan Purse Teams, Chaplains, and Tornado Impacted Families and Homeowners. This was an amazing week, and yes: one learns that all Samaritan Purse and BGEA Chaplaincy deployments have His signature on them, and they are always amazing. And God,...
CCM Disaster Response to Southeast Texas Flood in Livingston, Texas
CCM Disaster Response to Southeast Texas Flood in Livingston, Texas The following is a summary of events for the week of 5/19/2024 through 5/26/2024. I was deployed to the area surrounding Livingston, Texas as a Chaplain with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team...
Vermont Flooding (July 2023)
Shining His Light In A "Dark" Place Samaritan’s Purse acts Quickly to Assist Hundreds of Traumatized, Dismayed and Disoriented Vermont homeowners to Deal with and Rebound from Vermont’s most Devastating Flooding In Nearly a Century. Samaritan’s Purse volunteers from...
12 Tornado barrage in Shawnee, Oklahoma (May 2023)
Samaritan Purse Tornado Response to 12-Tornado Barrage of Property Destruction and Human Loss In Shawnee, Oklahoma Includes Local Volunteer from CCModesto (article written by John Upshaw) Through the intwined and often snapped branches of this tornado twisted Elm...
Englewood, Florida and Monterey Park, California Deployment
Mike How, Vickie How, and myself left Sacramento Airport with the ministry to homeowners in mind; those who are still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Ian in Central/West Florida. While in transit to this deployment, we were notified that we very possibly might be reassigned to Monterey Park, CA because of the mass shooting incident that took place on that Saturday Night prior to our departure (1/21/2023).
St Louis Deployment #2
Samaritan's Purse Deployment to St. Louis, Missouri (Ferguson, Missouri) 9/12 to 9/17/2022 This was our 2nd trip to this flood relief deployment. As I mentioned last time, these folks feel like they've been forgotten in this area because of all the national media...
Summary of Deployment to San Jose, CA mass shooting
John Kern – Deployment Summary to San Jose, CA Billy Graham Rapid Response Team 5-27-21 to 6-2-21 Myself, Mike How, and Vickie How were asked to go to San Jose after the tragic shooting of 9 Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority employees (VTA) at the light rail yard...
Samaritan’s Purse Deployment to Pendleton, Oregon 2/24 to 2/29/20
The city of Pendleton is approximately 16000 people and it was impacted by a localized flooding event the weekend prior to Valentine's Day. The Samaritan's Purse Deployment started on the 15th of February and will come to a conclusion on March 3rd . We had...
Chaplains Witness Remarkable Resilience
'There is Hope': Chaplains Encourage Hurricane Dorian Survivors Since Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas last fall, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) has offered emotional and spiritual care to those facing devastating loss. “There’s a resilience in the...