By Message Staff
KINGWOOD, Texas – Fresh off a three-day disaster relief trip to the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas, Kirk Jones took away something valuable he said Louisianans can offer to those residents whose homes flooded.
“Show up,” said Jones, pastor of Fellowship Church in Prairieville. “It meant the world to those families we helped that we were there. One homeowner we knew told me how worried he was and when he heard we were coming, he said there’s my Louisiana army. He then knew everything was going to be alright.”
Jones spent Thursday evening, Aug. 31, through Saturday afternoon, Sept. 2, alongside fellow members of Prairieville Church helping families gut out their homes so they can in turn begin the process of rebuilding the inside of their home.
Two families were connected to Fellowship. One a former member and the other a life-long friend of Jones’ whose parents helped start Fellowship Church. In addition to helping gut homes, Jones was able to pray with various homeowners.
“Sometimes they got emotionally overwhelmed when I was praying with them,” Jones recalled. “It’s a great reminder that people are not just with you but God is with you. It’s one of those places that you can be Jesus with skin on for people.”
Sites like this are common in Kirkwood and other communities in Texass after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August 2017, dumping record rainfall in parts of Texas. Kirk Jones Facebook photo
Last year, areas around Prairieville flooded, including the homes of some of his members. Some of them plan to make a trip there soon to help residents of the community rebuild.
Because his church remembers what it was like to go through a traumatic experience and understands how to best gut out a home, they are more than willing to now pay it forward.
“When you’ve been through this and you’ve been loved on by so many people, you realize how valuable it is to have people come to you,” Jones said. “When your area has been through a disaster and others showed up, you know how bad people need you and now we have the opportunity to help them out in their time of need.”
