A call to serve those in hurricane’s path
Alumni Spotlight: Daniel Lewis (MDiv’05)
BY JOE SLAY
The national media has left.
And with the departure of cameras and crews seeking shots of correspondents shouting over wind and rain, the nation’s attention is drawn inexorably to the next news cycles: Kavanaugh, Nikki Haley, Hurricane Michael.
Hurricane Florence and the damage it left, particularly in the Carolinas, fades in the public consciousness.
Rev. Dr. Daniel Lewis
“This is right when we need help the most,” says the Rev. Dr. Daniel Lewis, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. “The initial danger has passed, but it’s going to be a long, long recovery.”
A big concern of his is housing.
“A lot of people who had been protected in shelters during the storm,” he says, ”returned to their rental apartments and found that they had been deemed uninhabitable. There is a second wave of homelessness. There will need to be a lot of rebuilding.”
The members of his own congregation count themselves as having been spared the worst, though at least four or five members lost their homes.
“Our church property did okay,” he says. The church, a 1928 structure with a history that goes back to 1760, is uphill from the Cape Fear River. “We escaped the flooding, but there was damage …actually a little more than we first thought.”
“We’re assessing roof and water damage now …working with insurance adjusters …figuring out how best to do repairs.”
Right now, the Red Cross is housed in the church. “When the Red Cross moves out, we will either house other workers from around the country, or we may decide it’s better to use the space for our displaced neighbors.”
Lewis graduated from Union Presbyterian Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 2005, the same year as his wife, Susan. They are both ordained ministers.
He has been pastor at First Presbyterian Church for barely a year, and the 38-year-old says that recent days “have aged me a lot. Several people have pointed that out,” he laughs.
Photo credit: Daniel Lewis
He expresses concern, not only for his own church, but for the several smaller Presbyterian churches in the nearby counties of Brunswick, Pender, Columbus, and Bladen, all members of Coastal Carolina Presbytery.
“We are bound to them, and we will work hard to support them.”
“These counties were hit very hard by the flooding,” he says, “and the elderly and the poor there are very vulnerable.” He cites the work of Catholic Charities and the local Harrelson Center as profoundly important in the distribution of food and supplies. He also expresses gratitude for the relief workers of FEMA and the Red Cross.
“Now, the work of immediate ‘relief’ gradually becomes the work of longer-term ‘recovery’ and rebuilding,” he says, “ and those organizations involved in long-term recovery will need support.”
One of those organizations is PDA, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
“I want to brag on them a little,” he says. “Jim Kirk of the national office in Louisville called me ahead of the storm and prayed with me on the phone. That meant the world to me. They’ve been in touch many times and will be in it for the long haul.”
He urges people who want to help to go to the front page of the church’s website where they will find contact and contribution information.
“We were not able to worship the Sunday after the storm, but when we did gather four days later in the fellowship hall, there was prayer, a lot of gratitude and an immediate sense of responsibility and a call to serve those who were most affected.”
The scripture was Psalm 46.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Top photo: A member of Daniel Lewis’ church stands in front of a large uprooted tree.
