DISASTER RELIEF COMMITTEE

SUMMARY OF WORK

1. The EPC Office of General Assembly and the Disaster Relief Committee sent $100,000 to Central Carolinas Presbytery to distribute to the churches for immediate needs ($10,000 per church) on October 3rd after Hurricane Helene hit the Asheville region.

2. The DRC sent Cliff Mansley, Toni Harris and Whitney Alexander to assess western North Carolina on October 15-17, 2024, and to meet with as many pastors as possible to provide hope and assistance.

3. The stated clerk, Dean Weaver and Whitney Alexander went to Valley Hope Community Church in Swannanoa on October 30-Nov 1, 2024; to visit with as many pastors as possible and provide hope and financial assistance for any immediate needs they may have from Hurricane Helene.

4. The DRC sent Whitney Alexander to First Presbyterian Church in Dexter, New Mexico to assess the flooding damage and provide financial assistance to one of our EPC churches.

5. The DRC sent Toni Harris back to Swannanoa, NC to meet with Valley Hope church staff with the possibility of building a permanent facility for work teams for the next few years to help in the Asheville region. After many months of permit delays, it was decided to ask our churches to call surrounding camps (ie, Ridgecrest Camp) and Adventures in Mission (AIM) to house our EPC work teams in the coming months and years of recovery.

6. Working with the Office of the General Assembly in preparation of establishing a DRC informational page on the current EPC website.

7. The completion of re-roofing ten (10) homes in Selma, Alabama in 2024 was very successful with Reverand Steve Burton and DRC member Toni Harris, leading the project.

8. The DRC members Dave Shanklin and Toni Harris and their churches brought supplies to western North Carolina and to Selmer, Tennessee this past year. Many EPC churches responded to the needs in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, New Mexico and California this past year.

9. The Disaster Relief Committee helped to reroof a new EPC church plant in Clearwater, Florida by providing financial assistance under the leadership of former DRC member, Jim Winter. Jim Winter checked on all the Florida churches in his Presbytery after three significant hurricanes hit and went across Florida in 2024.

10. Disaster Relief Committee member, Rev Dr Paul Gibson facilitated an Emotional Trauma Workshop at Valley Hope Community Church in Swannanoa, NC in March 2025. This workshop was attended by all 13 teaching elders in the Asheville region and was well-received. Our desire is to provide this workshop in the next few years for all Presbytery’s that are willing to invite Dr Gibson for a 4–6-hour time frame (ie, a mini retreat before the Presbytery meeting begins).

11. The DRC approved additional financial assisstance, and the Office of General Assembly sent $25,000 to each of the eleven EPC churches in the Asheville region for hurricane disaster assistance for their church needs and pastoral assistance for counseling and family assistance in April 2025.

12. The DRC has been busy thinking how we can educate all our churches to be prepared and begin coming up with disaster plans before the next storm arrives unexpectedly.

13. The DRC provided a fund for Disaster Relief in the forest fires of Los Angeles and surrounding communities. We are still receiving funds to assist churches in the future recovery work and rebuilding that will be going for years to come.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The Disaster Relief Committtee has no recommendations for the 45th General Assembly.

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WORK OF THE COMMITTEE

PROACTIVE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR CONGREGATIONS

Every congregation should be prepared for the possibility of a disaster impacting their community. Church leadership should proactively discuss and establish a response plan for such events. Consider the potential effects on your church campus, members’ homes, and the surrounding community. While preparing for hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, or wildfires can be challenging, it is far better than reacting without a plan. Our Disaster Relief Committee is here to assist you with the planning process.

WORK IN SWANNANOA, NORTH CAROLINA AND ASHVILLE REGION

The DRC immediately kept in touch with all the western North Carolina churches after Hurricane Helene flooding touched the lives of 11 western EPC North Carolina churches and their congregations. The damage was incredible to thousands of homes and took the life out of our shepherds who were guiding their flock to the best of their ability while caring for their own families. It was chaotic the first few weeks as each pastor was guiding their respective church families and shepherding the hurting in their communities. We have not seen anything this extensive since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

WORK IN SELMA, ALABAMA

One of our actions as a committee this past year was to continue assisting Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (Rev Steve Burton) with financial assistance to complete ten roofs on homes in Selma, Alabama in 2024. Our EPC Domestic Disaster Fund contributed $60,000 along with three churches: Hope Presbyterian Cordova, TN, First Presbyterian Baton Rouge, and Cornerstone Presbyterian Selma contributing $60,000. This project between two churches in Selma, Alabama was a beautiful picture of the body of Christ loving our brothers and sisters who needed roofs for their homes. We are proud of the work Toni Harris did in leading this roofing project.

ESTABLISHING THE COMMITTEE and RESPONDING TO DISASTERS

The DRC had six zoom calls in our second year to continue establishing our mission purpose statement and vision for assistance with natural disasters. The DRC had many disasters to discuss this past year, especially in North Carolina, Florida, and New Mexico.

The DRC visited western North Carolina churches in October and November 2024 after Hurricane Helene disaster, and we provided financial assistance and hope to 11 churches, and in March 2025 provided emotional trauma workshop led by Rev Dr Paul Gibson for 13 EPC TE’s in this region. The DRC also visited First Presbyterian Church in Dexter, New Mexico in late October after the flooding in their community. Rev Suzanne Zampella has done incredible work in this aftermath of flooding in her community. The DRC sent committee members to Selma, Alabama; Selmer, Tennessee; and to Missouri and Arkansas to assess the tornado damages in many small communities.

There have been many EPC heroes in the past year that have assisted across this country. I do not know all of you but am very grateful for the hundreds of churches and individuals that have given to the EPC Domestic Disaster Emergency Fund which has helped thousands of people across this country.

DEAR EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Every disaster is a call to prayer. This is the one thing that we can all do. As your Disaster Relief Committee (DRC), we feel the need to remind each other that although every disaster deserves a Christian response, we do not have the capability or the capacity to respond with material relief in every situation. However, this does not mean that our response is apathy or lack of caring. Prayer is the primary tool of the Christian to shape the world, so we must pray.

We face a challenge. Sometimes we have the capacity to give to a disaster, but we may not have the capability to provide clear direction for our giving. At other times we may have the ability to help but we do not have the local capacity to deliver that care. In disasters, our desire to help meets our finite abilities and capacities. We are a small denomination and as such we must carefully choose our times to act in addition to prayer.

As such we have set the following guidelines: Prayerfully, we will enact EPC Disaster Relief efforts where we have a local EPC congregation that has been seriously affected; showing the compassion of our Father to the world. We are convinced that good stewardship calls us to mitigate needs through the local expression of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. We recognize that many disasters will occur where we do not have a local EPC presence, in those cases we call on all congregations to pray and respond as they are moved. Your giving to the EPC Domestic Disaster Relief Fund is always appreciated.

The EPC Vision statement states: “To the glory of God, the EPC family aspires to embody and proclaim Jesus’ love as a global movement of congregations engaged together in God’s mission through transformation, multiplication, and effective biblical leadership.”

Caring ministry begins with prayer and continues with the family of God helping those in need.

In His grip,
Disaster Relief Committee of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Our only desire is to ask our Heavenly Father to cease with all the natural disasters in the world. Biblically, we will continue to have flooding, fires, and earthquakes; but we have had an unusual large number of disasters throughout the United States this past twelve months. Please be in prayer for all who are still recovering from natural disasters.

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RECOMMENDATIONS (DETAILED)

The Disaster Relief Committee has no recommendations for the 45th General Assembly.

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COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Paul Gorny (Co-Chairman)
Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean

Cliff Mansley
TE, Presbytery of the West

Toni Harris
Presbytery of the Central South

Tommy Phelps
Presbytery of the Great Plains 

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MEETING DATES

October 10, 2024: Video Conference
October 24, 2024: Video Conference
November 1, 2024: Video Conference
November 14, 2024: Video Conference
January 12-14, 2025: Office of the General Assembly (Orlando, Florida)
February 27, 2025: Video Conference
April 17, 2025: Video Conference
May 20, 2024: Video Conference

Paul Gorny, Co-Chairman
June 2025

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