By The Rev. Amanda Banda and Heather Hahn
Shortly after midnight July 4, leaders of First United Methodist Church in Kerrville got word that the Guadalupe River was rising rapidly and people needed shelter.
So the church quickly opened its facilities — including its ministry Light on the Hill, a former retreat center that now serves as a hub for social services. Among those who came were families from across the country waiting to learn the fates of loved ones at Camp Mystic, the Christian camp swallowed by floodwaters.
By July 6, grieving church members and visitors gathered in the stained-glass-lit sanctuary to worship God and seek God’s comfort.
“You can just feel the heaviness in this space,” said Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, who joined the church for Sunday services.
“And at the same time, we know that we serve alongside a God of hope, a God of possibility, a God that never leaves us or forsakes us, a God that is always promised to be with us.”
Catastrophic floods over the Fourth of July weekend have killed at least 120 people, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic. In the predawn of July 4, the remnants of what had been Tropical Storm Barry brought heavy rains with the Guadalupe River rising 26 feet in 45 minutes.
The result was a historic disaster in Kerr County and other Hill Country communities outside San Antonio. Questions remain about Kerr County’s lack of an emergency-siren system, the National Weather Service’s own warnings and the federal government’s slashing of staff and services since the beginning of the year.
For now, United Methodists are focused on what immediate help they can provide.
Harvey, a former head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, is no stranger to natural disasters. She now leads both the Houston-based Texas Conference that stretches along the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast, as well as the San Antonio-based Rio Texas Conference that extends from the southernmost tip of Texas up through the now-inundated Hill Country.
However, she acknowledged it is hard to find the right words to respond to the scale of devastation and human loss in this tragedy.
Everybody at Kerrville United Methodist, she said, knows at least someone who has experienced loss or is mourning for someone dear themselves.
“There’s lots of friends and families, a local soccer coach, other prominent figures in town and whole families that were lost,” said the Rev. David Payne, Kerrville First United Methodist’s senior pastor.
The Texas Hill Country — known for its natural beauty and typically peaceful waters — also has long been a place where people have come each summer to grow in faith at various religious campgrounds across the area.
The 99-year-old Camp Mystic, while not United Methodist related, is special to many in the Kerrville congregation. During his Sunday sermon, Payne grappled with the terrible news that Dick Eastland, the beloved director of the Christian girls camp, had died while trying to rescue campers from the raging waters.
In comforting his flock, Payne turned to Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39, reminding churchgoers that nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not death nor life, not angels nor rulers, Paul wrote. “Not floodwaters, not loss of life, not catastrophic storms,” Payne added, according to Texas Monthly.
In the days since the flood, United Methodists and friends as far away as England have asked Payne and other Kerrville church leaders how they can help.
Payne spent most of the weekend informing well-meaning people that the area is not ready to accept volunteers.
What’s needed most right now is prayer and financial donations to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the denomination’s disaster-response arm. UMCOR has already distributed a $10,000 solidarity grant to the Rio Texas Conference for immediate needs.
“It’s funny how so many times, what I’ve heard is: ‘OK, besides prayer, what can I do?’” Payne said. “And shame on us, because that’s the best thing we can do.”
The Rev. Melissa O’Donnell, the church’s associate pastor, asked for prayers for her and church staff to know how to comfort families who lost children or other loved ones at Camp Mystic.
“As the day goes on and you’re not finding your daughter, then you’re realizing it’s now a recovering mission, and you just want them to be recovered as soon as possible,” O’Donnell said, “because these families really are wanting some closure.”
The families have come from across the nation, O’Donnell said. “Giving them that Hill Country love and supporting them has been, I think, really important,” she said.
Beth Palmer, the church’s outreach director, said the hope of Christ has been central to the church’s response to all in need.
“It’s the foundation. It is the focus of everything that we’re doing,” she said. “Because when you have lost everything, and when you feel like there’s nowhere to go, and that all hope is lost, that is where our hope comes from.”
As the rescue operations turn into relief operations, the Kerrville congregation’s Light on the Hill ministry will now become a staging ground for National Guard and other first responders.
Throughout the long grieving and recovery process, Harvey said she and other United Methodists in the region will hold onto God’s promise “as we walk alongside these people here whose hearts are broken alongside ours.”
She asked that people continue to pray. Referencing Methodism founder John Wesley’s last words, she said, “We know, best of all, even in moments like this, God is with us.”
