Pastor sees churches unite to serve those impacted by hurricane Helene

WBS alumnus Kenny Johnston has seen God do amazing things amid the wreckage in his North Carolina community

“We never lost power that Friday, but those below us were inundated with flooding, and those above us on the mountain were trapped without power as the roads became impassable.” That’s how Kenny Johnston recalls the initial impact of torrential storms in his community. Since 2018, he has served as pastor of Gastonia First Wesleyan Christian Church, east of Charlotte, North Carolina. Kenny (’19) is one of many WBS alumni and students involved in relief efforts following the devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton which struck the U.S. in late September and early October of 2024, respectively.

“My grandmother was in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, and I remember how we didn’t realize at first how bad the damage was from that historic storm,” Kenny says. That recollection spurred him to contact other Wesleyan Church pastors in his region to begin mobilizing an effort to check in with every church, and every member possible. In some cases where there was no cell service, this meant hiking into an area with chainsaws to get through and see how people were doing.

On Saturday, the flood waters were still rising. “People began to get frantic without being able to get out; there was no water and no gasoline to be found in some places,” Kenny says. By Sunday, the team was taking up loads of supplies to churches they could get to with the help of chainsaws. By Monday, several churches had been established as hubs for distribution. Some 50 loads of supplies came in just the first week, without countless more since then. Work teams were sleeping in sanctuaries. “They were coming out of nowhere to serve,” Kenny says.

Soon, local officials began to look to the church for help, alerting them to places in need. Although Kenny says he has heard FEMA has been present in larger cities around them, in many cases the people they met said the churches were the only organizations who had contacted them at all.

The pastors established a text thread and Facebook group to coordinate their efforts. “As gas stations reopened and water became available, we realized we needed to move from the crisis phase into a more strategic phase to sustain our efforts over what would clearly be a long process,” Kenny says.

The churches were receiving supplies faster than they could disburse them, so churches were identified that could serve as warehouses. As the amount of money donated began to add up, they realized it was not wise to make themselves stewards of such large sums without an accountability system. Their solution was to develop a system to match donors directly with needy families. “We created a Google form where donors could list what they had to offer. When we came across a family with that need, we put them in touch with each other,” Kenny explains.

Kenny also applied his creativity to the problem of housing. Many people in the area are living in tents, unwilling to leave or unable to since their jobs are nearby. The tents were hard to keep clean and vulnerable to looters. Some people asked them not to give them anything of value since it would only make them a target for more crime. Moreover, the tents will become more and more unsafe as winter approaches. With background skills in construction, Kenny designed a structure that could be safely heated and cooked in and was lockable to keep looters out. It could be constructed for less than $2,000 and was modular, so pieces could be built ahead of time and assembled on-site.

Unfortunately, Kenny’s team has run into opposition. While some politicians have been supportive and accommodating, others refused to allow the structures since they had not been approved under local building codes. Kenny says his greatest prayer request right now is not for provision, but for government officials to support rather than impede ministry to the vulnerable people still in tents.

Meanwhile, Kenny has seen God move in the midst of this tragedy in many miraculous ways. In one situation, a pastor became aware of a single mother who had lost her only transportation. She told the pastor she had a dream one night that the pastor was bringing her a white Toyota. Unbeknownst to her, a donor in a completely different state had already delivered a nice car for the pastor to bring to her. The pastor had the joy of driving it to her house that day—and it was a white Toyota!

In another instance, the team had to be “schooled” in God’s goodness. A donor brought a “random” delivery of an entire truckload of adult diapers to one of their warehouse churches. “They were laughing amongst ourselves,” Kenny admits, “wondering what they would do with these, and why someone would donate so many of them.” Within eight hours, he reports, the church received a call from a shelter where nursing home residents had been relocated asking, “Do you happen to have any adult diapers?” God had provided the resources before they could even imagine the need.

Kenny says the incredible response of the local churches, and donors across the nation, has been a powerful witness to unbelievers and strengthened the faith of younger believers. “During that first week,” he says, “people were so emotionally raw. We were the first ones there with supplies, and we watched people weep. There was so much vulnerability. Many of our churches held lamentation services their first week back and people from the community who might not have attended worship before came to grieve together and share their loss. One new believer trying to restart a business commented in tears, “There’s nobody here helping but the churches.” The pastors, too, were encouraged by the renewed sense of unity they experienced as they all came together to serve the community.

As the months and years of recovery ahead unfold, Kenny and his fellow pastors will surely face many challenges. But they have seen God provide miraculously, and they trust that God will continue to provide all the resources they need through prayer and the generosity of His people. We join them in the expectation that God will “overcome evil with good” and turn this terrible storm into an opportunity to bring praise and glory to the name of Jesus.

Interested in helping? Fill out Kenny’s Google Form for potential donors at https://gforms.app/p/NZemvbF. For the many other WBS alumni and students who are active in disaster relief in your own churches, we encourage you to post your story on social media and tag @WesleyBiblicalSeminary so we can praise and pray with you.