The heart of God has and always will be for the lost, the forgotten, and the overlooked as Luke 15 makes clear. Likewise, Crisis Response International was just finishing up its own training and was headed into a week of work projects around its 84-acre mission base in Blue Ridge, Virginia, when they received word of the flooding in Kentucky.
“We knew we needed to step up and lean into this crisis,” said Sean Malone, CRI Director. “Most crisis response organizations will go to the big cities where there is infrastructure while the small towns and remote areas are overlooked.”
CRI however is going to the least, the lost, and the last bringing good news and practical aid to those living in remote towns and country villages on the outskirts of Kentucky.
“We’re going to go to the forgotten, the underserved, we’re going to bring the kingdom of God, the love of Jesus, we’re going to see people touched with God’s power.”
The ministry has done just that. Going to the least, the lost, and those in need. One example is the ministry’s practical aid in mucking out the house of an 81-year-old man who was forced to hide in his attic as the waters rose to over 5 feet in his home.
“As responders, we experience a deep joy when we go to the most isolated and hard-hit, and hopeless areas. We feel this expresses the heart of our loving Papa God, who chases after us and is with us in our messes. We want the people of these small isolated towns that God knows them by name and knows their address.”
The ministry takes the opportunity to not only meet the physical and practical needs but also to share the gospel in a way that people in crisis can receive and respond.
The ministry put out the call for responders and partners alike to join in their efforts bringing aid to Kentucky flood victims saying, “The big need in #Kentucky right now is meal assistance and clean-up crews to muck out homes and recover belongings. We have deployed the mobile kitchen unit and clean-up equipment and will also mobilize and distribute urgently needed supplies. The three ways you can make sure they are not forgotten are to deploy to the field, the CRI Base, or donate now.”
The ministry works only with trained volunteers who sign up as disaster relief missionaries, complete CRI’s week-long training (also available online), and then are sent into disaster zones with the good news of Jesus and practical skills to bring aid physically, emotionally, and spiritually to those in need.
