Update

Rebuilding ‘Little by Little’

Although it will take years for North Carolina to recover following Hurricane Helene, LERT volunteers are in it for the long haul.

Story by Stacey Eising | Photography by Erik M. Lunsford | Spring 2025

On Sept. 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene passed over the mountains of western North Carolina, dumping over 15 inches of water on ground already saturated with two days of rain. With no place to seep into, this water ran down mountain slopes, overflowed creeks and rivers, uprooted trees, and destroyed buildings. It was the worst hurricane in recorded North Carolina history.

Since then, Lutherans in North Carolina and from across the country have been showing the love and mercy of Christ to those impacted by the storm.

Months later, the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Skopak, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church and School, Asheville, N.C., said that more needs are constantly coming to light, as those who “thought the aid was for people who needed it more” finally speak up.

Mangled debris remains following flooding in Asheville, N.C. Top: LERT volunteer Lori Rusert scrubs the foundation at Trinity Lutheran Church, Tryon, N.C., in November 2024.

He recently learned that one member had 100 trees down in his yard, and that a school family’s rented home had been destroyed with all their possessions inside. The congregation immediately helped both families.

The affected area, which spans miles and miles, includes many remote communities that are difficult to access. Many mountain and river roads remain washed out or blocked. Some people who live “off the beaten path” are still without electricity and other utilities, Skopak said. An “unfathomable number of fallen trees,” many leaning dangerously, still need to be addressed.

Yet the most striking thing, he added, is the outpouring of care from Lutherans across the country.

“Our gratitude and thanksgiving for the broader church and families that are connected to us is overwhelming. From the individuals who have sent kind cards and notes, to churches [and other partners] sending a variety of resources, … it’s really been the great, broad expression of [the] church to us,” he continued.

These gifts have, in turn, enabled Emmanuel to serve its neighbors. As donations and supplies have poured in, including multiple semitrailers from LCMS Recognized Service Organization (RSO) Orphan Grain Train, Emmanuel has distributed these to people in need through local partners.

About 70 miles north of Asheville, up in the winding mountains near Linville, N.C., a steady flow of volunteers is coming to rebuild Camp Linn Haven, another RSO; Mountainside Lutheran Church, an LCMS congregation on Linn Haven’s campus; and the surrounding community.

The sanctuary at Mountainside Lutheran Church, Linville, N.C., following the flooding.

The camp’s cabins took in 5 feet of water during the storm, while Mountainside Lutheran — the only LCMS congregation in eight counties — took in around 3 feet. The cabins had to be mucked out and gutted down to the studs.

At the end of January, Linn Haven was in its second week of hosting Lutheran Early Response Teams (LERT), aided by a grant from LCMS Disaster Response. In that time, said the Rev. Bryan Chestnutt, Mountainside’s pastor, volunteers had already been able to drywall a portion of the church building and almost complete the renovation of one of the camp’s nine duplex cabins.

“The fact that they could get that done in a week and a half … shows us that yes, this will take time and materials and volunteers, but little by little, with this amount of help, we can get this done,” said Chestnutt.

The Rev. Bryan Chestnutt (center), pastor of Mountainside Lutheran Church, Linville, N.C., surveys flood damage with the Rev. Michael Meyer, managing director in the LCMS Office of National Mission, and the Rev. Dr. Brian Heller, manager of LCMS Specialized Spiritual Care Ministry.

Teirsa Lane, camp manager, points to the waterline left by the flood.

In March, Camp Linn Haven will host spring break groups from Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, Neb., and the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point. The Rev. Michael Meyer and the Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson of LCMS Disaster Response will be on-site to provide LERT training to these young volunteers.

The camp also received a grant from the LCMS Southeastern District to hire a full-time disaster program and project coordinator who will help organize the volunteer efforts and assess ongoing opportunities to serve the surrounding community.

“Every month going forward for the next three to five years, we’re hopeful that we can have some kind of work going on in the community as a witness to Christ,” said Chestnutt, who noted that even before the storm there was a significant amount of poverty in the area.

A couple of hours south, in Tryon, N.C., Trinity Lutheran Church also suffered foundation damage in the storm as the Pacolet River raged above its banks. Several feet of mud flowed into an enormous crawl space below the church, which needed to be mucked out immediately to prevent mold and further damage.

LERT volunteer Seth DuPont clears debris near Trinity Lutheran Church, Tryon.

Multiple LERT teams and other volunteers pitched in to help. In January, aided by a grant from LCMS Disaster Response, Trinity was able to fully repair the foundation, setting the congregation on solid ground to move toward worshiping together in the sanctuary again. (Members have been gathering in a rented space in Tryon in the meantime.)

Helene’s devastation, while tragic, has given the church a wonderful opportunity to confess Christ to the surrounding community.

“God has put us right here, in this place, at this moment, to bless this community,” said Skopak. “When the church is being the church and doing the things that Jesus would have us do, it moves hearts, it changes minds and it opens them up to the reception of the Gospel.”

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Stacey Eising

Managing editor for The Lutheran Witness.