For Immediate Release
Contact: Pamela Nielsen, 314-996-1215, @thelcms
LCMS church, members homes destroyed
ST. LOUIS, June 17, 2014—Following dual tornadoes that pummeled a small town in Nebraska on June 16, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) has committed an initial $100,000 to the disaster relief and response effort.
The funds will be distributed through the LCMS Nebraska District and St. John Lutheran Church in Pilger, Neb., which was demolished by the storms that killed at least two people, injured more than a dozen people and damaged 75 percent of the town.
The home of St. John pastor Rev. Terry Makelin and his wife also was destroyed. The couple was not home at the time and was uninjured. The homes of numerous LCMS members were damaged or destroyed in the Nebraska towns of Pilger, Wisner, Stanton and Pender.
The LCMS funds will be used to help care for the pastor and the needs of the St. John congregation, as well as to help the LCMS Nebraska District and area congregations respond to the needs of the community in the short- and long-term.
“Our hearts really go out to the members of St. John’s and the pastor,” said the Rev. John Fale, associate executive director of LCMS Mercy Operations. “The church is gone but the congregation is not. This is an opportunity for us as a church body to care for each other, but it is also a chance to care for our neighbors and their neighbors within those communities.”
A three-member team from LCMS Disaster Response is headed to Nebraska Wednesday, June 18, to assess the damage and determine how best to respond.
Learn more about LCMS Disaster Response at www.lcms.org/disaster.
To make a gift in support of the Synod’s relief and recovery efforts:
- Visit www.lcms.org/givenow/disaster
- Mail checks payable to “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod” (with a memo line or note designating “LCMS Disaster Relief”) to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861.
- Call toll-free 888-930-4438 (8:10 a.m. to 4:10 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday).
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a biblical, confessional, witness-oriented Christian denomination with 2.2 million members — 600,000 households — in 6,200 congregations. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.lcms.org.
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