A few weeks ago, we began to discuss some basic issues that the church is now facing. These are generalizations and do not apply to every church, of course. However, what I would like to address this week seems to be a problem in just about every church, movement, or denomination, which I have also observed in almost every government, business, and other organizations. If it is not the main cause for most of the discord and division in organizations, it is a close second. The good thing is that any church which understands and overcomes this one issue will unquestionably catapult its spiritual advancement. Let me explain.
A few weeks ago I brought up some of the problems experienced with the Hurricane Katrina disaster because they apply to the church as much as any other organization. The main problem that we want to discuss here surfaced and crippled the relief efforts in that disaster to such a point that the whole nation was stunned and appalled by it, but no one seemed to understand or confront it. The great problems there were blamed on bad management, which there was much, but what we need to address is what caused the bad management. The same problems are shackling the church in almost everything we do.
As we also addressed a few weeks ago, the dwelling places of God in Scripture were all broken up into three parts—the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. The labor in the tabernacles and temples were also divided up into three areas. This is the answer to many issues in the church, and once understood and applied correctly will multiply our effectiveness. It can be applied in many ways which no one has probably considered before, including such things as disaster relief, missions, church planting, etc.
To illuminate this problem, we need to also understand the good things that happened in the Katrina relief efforts and what caused them to be so effective. As MorningStar was vitally involved in the Katrina relief, providing much of the basic management and manpower for a POD (Point Of Distribution), we had the opportunity to observe and learn these things firsthand. Much of what we learned there dramatized many aspects of church life which was remarkable, as you will see. If you will bear with me in this, I think you will find it not only interesting, but very illuminating.
After we began to understand the problems and needs faced in the Katrina relief, we broke down the relief efforts into three basic phases, which were:
Phase 1: Rescue. The main goal in this phase is simply saving lives and getting people to safety.
Phase 2: Stabilization. The main goal of this phase is establishing the PODs for sustaining the people with the basic needs of food, medicine, shelter, clothing, etc.
Phase 3: Restoration. The goal of this phase is to restore people's lives, including the infrastructure of the community, homes, businesses, etc.
In the Katrina disaster, Phase I actually lasted weeks. The dire situation of so many people in New Orleans captured most of the headlines, but there were many communities throughout Mississippi and Louisiana that sustained even more damage and were in more critical shape. Sensing that most of the media, and therefore the aid, were focused on New Orleans, our teams went to Biloxi, which was really ground zero, where the east side of the storm center hit, and where the worst storm surge was. It looked like either a nuclear blast or a giant tsunami had hit it. When our teams first arrived in Biloxi, the officials said they were recovering about one hundred bodies an hour, and thousands were unaccounted for. The people who survived in Biloxi were in far more desperate shape than most who were in New Orleans.
There were also other whole communities inland that were cut off from all aid from relief workers by downed trees, and where the survivors could not get out either. Some of these people were not even found for weeks, and many of them had no doubt perished for the lack of basic needs such as water, food, and medicine. So, in this case Phase I and II overlapped by several weeks.
Phase III in this disaster will go on for years, if not decades. Even so, in some areas Phase III had begun even while Phase I may have been still going on close by. The point here is that there is a very different kind of leadership and management that is needed for each of these phases, as well as a whole different type of training and the mentality of the workers. Multiple strategies which were being implemented at the same time created quite a bit of confusion and conflict. It proved costly in the relief efforts.
We also began to quickly understand that the kind of person who seems to thrive in Phase I would languish in Phase II or III. The kind of person who would do well in Phase II would not do as well in Phase I or III; the kind of person needed for Phase III will almost certainly get in the way in Phase I and II. Everyone who came for the relief efforts sincerely wanted to help, but if they did not come at the right time and get involved in the right place or phase, they usually became a liability instead of a help.
If you get the picture, quickly there were huge numbers of people in extreme desperation from the disaster, with large numbers coming to help them and very little organization and leadership. I am not blaming anyone for the lack of leadership and management at first—it had simply been blown away by the storm, along with all communications except for a very few who had satellite phones. Even so, this confluence of people quickly melded into a situation very difficult to overcome. The resources of FEMA were even overwhelmed by the magnitude of this situation, which actually covered an area almost the size of Great Britain.
Think about this, an area that large suddenly without a basic infrastructure, including government. I was actually amazed by how fast FEMA and the governments, including the local, state, and federal, were able to get things under relative control. Sure there were problems and mismanagement, but overall a remarkable job was done.
Even so, the greatest encouragement we could derive from the whole Katrina disaster was the way the church responded to it, and how powerfully effective she was in the midst of some of the most terrible conditions and confusion one could imagine. When even the government agencies bogged down, leadership arose among the Christians, who would show up at the right place, with the right resources. They got the job done as well as could be expected in those circumstances.
The church did save many lives and helped many who others could not reach or did not even know about. They did not reach everyone, but what was accomplished by the church in that situation was more than remarkable—there is just no other way to explain it than being supernatural. Even some of the most secular, liberal newspapers acknowledged that the church was the most effective provider of aid in that terrible tragedy.
This is the way that it should be, as the church is called and anointed to do some things that the government will never be able to do very well. I am thankful for a government that wants and tries to help, but we need to take what we are called to do off of the government, and let them do the part that they do better than the church. We can be sure that the church's role in such disasters will increase in the future, as the disasters will increase in both magnitude and number. With just a little bit of planning and training, the church will become many times more efficient than it was at the Katrina disaster.
Why did the church stand out so well, even without the training and management? Most came not knowing how to help, but they were moved to come by the Holy Spirit. Why? He is the Helper. We tend to think of the ministry of helps as the ones who cut the grass at church, do the ushering, etc., which is a huge and invaluable help to the church, but the main ministry of helps arises when someone is crying "HELP!"
When those who were so led by the Helper arrived at the disaster area, for the most part, they were discerning and resourceful, doing brilliantly what needed to be done. This was because of the Helper who was working in them. They simply followed the Lord. Where the most terrible problems were faced, the Lord gave words of wisdom to implement new strategies and techniques, empowering people to do great exploits.
It was nothing less than miraculous, which of course, is what the Spirit does.
Many Christians took their vacations to work at this disaster, in the worst conditions imaginable, often working sixteen or more hours a day in unrelenting heat, humidity, and appalling conditions, with death all around them and constant danger. It was something to see, and did highlight many hidden strengths that the church has, which is more than anything her people. This is because the Helper is in them, and they followed Him.
We are just beginning to discuss some of the basic, but crucial aspects of these principles, which can be applied to every church and every organization. Implementing just a few of the things we learned from Katrina relief into our church, which has already made a big difference, we can tell will make even more of a difference in the future. They are simple and practical, and will make a huge difference as the times unfold. Again, not just for disaster response or relief, but in the daily life of the church.
The "great time of trouble" that the Lord Jesus Himself said the end of this age would be was also called "the harvest," and will be the great time of harvest for the church. One main reason for this will be the Helper who is in us. When someone saves your life or helps you in crisis, there is a bonding that cannot be duplicated in other ways. Multitudes who are about to be helped by the Helper, who is in the church, will likewise be bonded to the church and the Lord, with such strong bonds that the whole church will be strengthened.
It is for this reason that we started mobilizing churches and Christians from every region of the country into Disaster Response Teams, providing training, and ultimately credentials that will get them behind the yellow tape in any disaster. A key word here is "any disaster." Our neighbor's Armageddon could come at the next stoplight. Their family could go through worse troubles from a car accident, any accident, or disease than others will experience in "the great tribulation." Every Christian should be prepared to be there for their neighbors, and they can be prepared to be very effectively used with even a little effort on their part.
According to Homeland Security, we are the only church that is presently offering the kind of extensive training that we are doing, but there will be others. We would be glad to help your church, movement, or denomination do this. The Helper who is in them will be moving them to do this. Many of the highest impact Christians are going to go where they can be used. Our goal has always been to help other churches, movements, and denominations, not take from them. But if you do not train and release your high impact people, they will go to where they can be used, or the frustration in them will cause so many problems that you will want them to leave.
There were many ways in which the best of the church and the best of America rose to the challenge in the Katrina disaster. The media rarely, if ever, gave this side of the story. Even so, if they do not get acknowledged here I am sure their exploits are known in heaven, and they will be acknowledged there. There were many, many, true heroes who did remarkable feats and risked their lives and health to save others. I was personally never more proud of the church in America, or the people of America, as I was then. I think both will arise and continue to shine more and more in the time ahead. There is a lot that we can do to be more prepared, but the most important of all is learn to follow the Helper who lives in us.
