Premiere — Greensburg, Kansas — A Resurrection Story

In this premiere episode, I want to tell you a story about brokenness and resurrection of an entire town.

Back in March, the first of a series of devastating floods damaged hundreds of homes in Nebraska. In the spring, a massive tornado destroyed or damaged homes in several communities in northeast Kansas. And later this past summer, more floods ravaged parts of Kansas and Nebraska. The Great Plains Conference’s Disaster Response ministry has been going nonstop since around March 14, so leaders in the conference were concerned about pastors serving in these disaster areas.

We planned a workshop/retreat for these pastors, but only a very small number signed up, so we postponed the event. But we had prepared for it. And part of that preparation was an interview with the Rev. Terry Mayhew. His experiences are unlike any other in our conference. You see, Terry received the call from his district superintendent late the evening of May 4, 2007, that he was being moved from Plains and Kismet United Methodist Churches to the town of Greensburg. Less than an hour later, a tornado would nearly wipe Greensburg off the map.

Or at least the twister would have killed the town, if not for the hope provided by faith in Jesus, the determination of residents, and people from both near and far working together to serve as Christ’s hands and feet in a shattered community.