[1]As western North Carolina continues to work to recover and rebuild, the Biblical Recorder asked four individuals to share their memories and reflections about Hurricane Helene. Here are their stories as they look back and look ahead.
Tom Beam
Disaster Response Coordinator, N.C. Baptists on Mission
Sept. 26, 2024. That was the day my entire reality became confined to the windowless basement of the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Outside, Hurricane Helene had just begun its assault on the mountains. But inside, the storm had already taken shape as maps on screens, flashing alerts, contingency plans and the constant hum of overlapping voices.
We had all arrived with our usual disaster plans, expecting to face a relatively contained, regional event. Our focus was on western North Carolina. The mountains were the main concern. We believed the systems we had in place could manage it.
From my position in the EOC, I was a vital connection between the Baptists on Mission office, disaster relief and recovery leadership, and our volunteer site leaders. Communication came in a nonstop cycle: assess needs, locate resources, send help.
Even as the last bands of rain fell, our volunteers and equipment were already rolling toward the staging site at Biltmore Church in Arden. Within the next week, we would establish 16 disaster response sites across 27 mountain counties. Our trucks drove over 150,000 miles, pulling and delivering equipment and supplies.
The hours blurred together. Each day brought more urgency — and often, more devastating news. What began as isolated requests for assistance quickly grew into a widespread catastrophe.
Rivers swelled past their banks, overwhelming entire towns and their infrastructure. Roads disappeared. Bridges collapsed. We had landslides unlike any we had ever seen. The scale of destruction became clearer with each report. This wasn’t just another hurricane. It was a catastrophic, history-making event — the most destructive storm to ever hit North Carolina.
Despite my best efforts to stay focused and composed, the emotional weight pressed in. Reports came in that some of our own volunteers had been affected with homes damaged and families displaced. I kept thinking about my own family and friends in the mountains. Were they OK? Had they found safety?
Through it all, one thing never stopped: the work. We had launched a massive operation before the rain had even let up, and we would keep going, without rest for many months, until the waters receded and recovery could begin.
At the end of the year, we moved into a rebuild effort. But during the last three months of 2024, the 13,000 Baptists on Mission disaster response volunteers worked 503,610 hours, preparing 500,000 meals, completing 5,021 jobs, providing 16,000 showers and washing 8,000 loads of laundry.
Our chaplains made over 3,700 contacts, and our family care volunteers ministered to over 400 families with children. Over 3,800 churches from all across North Carolina and from every state assisted us in the mountains. After all, that is our mission. A mission to help churches and Christians meet human needs in the name of Jesus. There is no greater joy.
Bruce Frank
Lead Pastor, Biltmore Church, Arden
There’s a saying in sports: “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.”
While no one could have predicted the tremendous loss, scale and impact that Helene would bring, it quickly became clear that the Church (capital C) was uniquely equipped and positioned to meet the urgent needs of a region suddenly left without essentials like water, cell coverage or food. This happened while our community was still reeling, not only from the massive loss of property, but also, tragically, from the loss of friends, neighbors and loved ones.
Tropical Storm Fred, which hit about three years earlier, had shown us just how devastating a hurricane could be in our region. While Fred’s impact was significant, it was relatively localized to Haywood County. That painful experience helped prepare the Church for what was to come with Helene.
For instance, Baptists on Mission was already stationed at our church the day before the storm hit, and we had pre-purchased resources for immediate distribution. Within hours of Helene making landfall, churches across the nation were launching relief strategies and mobilizing volunteers on a scale that was nothing short of remarkable.
As grocery stores and government agencies scrambled for resources, sometimes for days or weeks, we began almost immediately receiving and distributing vital supplies like bottled water. Many in our region weren’t just under boil advisories; they had no water at all.
Virtually overnight, our church became a regional distribution hub. At the peak, we had more than 600 pallets of donated supplies on our property. One radio announcer — radio being one of the few viable communication methods at the time — said, “We don’t know how — everywhere else runs out before we can announce it — but Biltmore Church still has bottled water, and it’s still available for you now.” I remember wanting to tell the broadcaster, “It’s because Christ-followers and the local Church have been mobilized. That’s how.”
Those first several weeks were hard, but the Gospel impact was profound. People came to know Christ in the supply lines. Lives were changed daily. We heard countless stories that could only be explained by God being at work in our midst. We continued distributing water and essentials throughout the 52-day water outage and boil advisory that affected Asheville and the surrounding region.
Now, nearly a year later, we’re still in the rebuilding phase. Our focus has shifted to getting people into homes and apartments, with the help of countless volunteers who continue to give their time and energy to serve others. Most weeks in the church lobby, I meet teams from churches across North Carolina and beyond who have come to serve.
There’s no doubt the recovery will take years, but the people of western North Carolina are resilient. And there’s a bond among us now — one forged only through walking together through such devastation.
While storms and disasters bring great pain and suffering, it’s often in those very moments that the Church shines brightest. So let’s continue to be the Church — by “staying ready” to meet the needs of our communities for the glory of God alone.
Don and Marie Grindstaff
Volunteers, NC Baptists on Mission
Since Hurricane Helene destroyed our home, there has been a lot of attention on what we lost, how we are managing or what we are going to do next. This spotlight on us and our situation has been uncomfortable, but it gives us such a wonderful opportunity to praise God for His mercy and grace.
God has been faithful to provide every need that we have. As we look back to Sept. 27, 2024, we can see Him at work in our hearts, in our home and in our family.
As disaster relief volunteers with Baptists on Mission, it seems strange to be on this side of a disaster, but God has used it to strengthen our faith, humble us and make us more excited to serve Him.
We have watched our family, our community and our church grow closer. They have all come together to support us and to encourage us. Our Baptists on Mission family has been loving on us since the day of the storm and has continued to pray for us, encourage us and support us.
We have volunteered with Baptists on Mission for almost 10 years. We are assessors and chaplains doing disaster relief and recently began volunteering with the rebuild efforts in western North Carolina. When we see a yellow shirt, our hearts swell that God would use us individually, as a couple or in a large group to share His love to hurting families and offer practical help in a crisis.
When we are placed on alert for possible deployment to a disaster site, our very first step is to pray that God would go before us, opening the hearts and minds of the families we meet; to allow them to see God’s love for them and the hope that He brings. Before we leave our driveway, we pray for safety and protection for us on the road and as we serve.
After Helene and in all our years of serving, we have met wonderful people and have seen God working in the hearts and minds of the survivors as well as community members and local volunteers. They include: a 15-year-old giving his life to Christ in Haywood County; a woman in her 80s accepting Christ and getting baptized in her flooded home in Cape Coral, Florida; and couples recommitting their lives to Christ and recommitting to each other. While we are there, we are privileged to see God drawing His people. Our hearts and minds focus on God and His goodness.
Since our own crisis, when we were humbled to see dozens of yellow shirts coming down our driveway, offering help and hope, we have new eyes to see hurting people. God is prompting us to offer a helping hand, listening ear or shoulder to cry on. We recognize that we are to be on mission to help the hurting and the lost every day, not just after a storm.
In Luke 5, four friends bring a paralytic to Jesus for healing, fighting the crowds, climbing onto a roof. It wasn’t easy to be sure. But their belief in Jesus Christ made it possible.
Being uncomfortable or inconvenienced is temporary, but look at the glorious results.
Revelation 7:9 says: “As I looked, there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the lamb.”
Oh, what a day that will be. Until then, please pray about joining us, serving the Lord together through Baptists on Mission. If God is calling you to make a commitment to serve Him through Baptists on Mission, please reach out through www.baptistsonmission.org [2].
Barbara Douglas
Homeowner, Spruce Pine, N.C.
During Hurricane Helene, we were monitoring the situation that Friday morning, and it didn’t look like we were going to have a problem. It was expected to stop raining by noon, but around 10:45 a.m., I noticed water started coming onto the lawn. Then a nearby creek rose about 4 feet in the next 45 minutes. That’s when I knew we had to evacuate. It was time to go.
We came back a couple hours later, and the water was still pretty high. We had to wade through the water to get back into the house. The water filled up the entire basement and at least 2 feet into the living room and throughout the whole house. In some of the side rooms that sit a little lower, the water was probably chest high. It wiped out pretty much everything except what was hanging on a wall or in a closet.
It was pretty devastating because everything was covered in mud. I was in shock, a little bit, because this house has been here for 75 years, and it’s never flooded. We had been through a couple of big storms a few years back, and the water got fairly high, but we had never felt like we were in jeopardy here of having an issue like we had. I didn’t know how I was going to handle all this by myself.
Then one day, all these cars came pulling up and parked along the guardrail, and people just descended upon us. They were volunteers with Baptists on Mission, and they just took over. It was an amazing thing because you’re still in shock, and you don’t know what you’re going to do. Amid all the work taking place, you would meet someone who was here to sit with you to listen to your story, and you just break down and cry because you’re happy that they are there. You need them to be there, and they want to be there to help you piece things back together.
They’ve done amazing work. I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m grateful for all of the amazing people I met and every single person who came and gave of their time to work on my home. I love them. When they were done, they gave me a beautiful Bible that they all had signed.
This whole experience for all of us here in western North Carolina has been life-changing in all different ways. I was one of the first people Baptists on Mission helped after the storm, so I’ve been back in my home for several months. There are still some small projects and things to sort through that are left to do, but we are at a point where it’s manageable for us.
But there are still a whole lot of people in different situations and stages out there who aren’t as far along. Some of it is covered up because the green trees are back, and things aren’t as exposed anymore, but there are still a lot of people struggling out there. There’s still a lot of need. We need help, and we still need people to come.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of the Biblical Recorder magazine.
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