Navigation Back Search
Search

Video: ‘Look what God can do’

Video and photos by Annette Spence, Holston Conference; produced by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

An East Tennessee pastor says God guided her congregation to respond to the needs of families displaced by Hurricane Helene. The Rev. Sarah Varnell, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, says the church’s response started small and has grown into a community-wide effort, with the church becoming a safe place for people to come and get supplies. “Look what God can do,” she said.

Learn more

Elias Torres cleans up flood damage from Hurricane Helene at Cedar Key (Fla.) United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News. 

Florida churches begin Helene recovery efforts

United Methodists across the southeastern U.S. are responding in communities that were devastated by Hurricane Helene. UM News photographer Mike DuBose traveled with church leaders and relief workers in Florida this week to document as they began assessing damage and planning relief efforts.
SEE STORY
A view of Valle Crucis United Methodist Church in Valle Crucis, N.C., shows water over the stairs of the entryway after flooding caused by Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina and other parts of the southeastern United States last week. Bishop Ken Carter, who leads the Western North Carolina Conference, said it’s estimated that more than half of the 44 counties in the annual conference have been affected. Photo courtesy of the Western North Carolina Conference. 

United Methodists offer relief after Helene

Church members are beginning the long, slow recovery following Helene’s devastating storm surge and flooding in the southeastern U.S. Conferences are busy supporting survivors.
SEE STORY

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Faith Sharing
Text from hymn tune; photo by Jill Wellington from Pixabay; graphic by Laurens Glass

Social media graphics from UM News
Graphic for Thanksgiving available to download and share on social media.
Social Concerns
Barbara Braided Hair, left, teaches members of First United Methodist Church in Sheridan, Wyo., how to make fry bread. Barbara is the late wife of Otto Braided Hair Jr., a Sand Creek Massacre descendants representative of the Northern Cheyenne tribe in Lame Deer, Mont., who helped educate church members about the 1864 massacre led by Methodists. The dialogue sparked a two-decade relationship between the church’s Native American Committee and the Northern Cheyenne tribe. File photo courtesy of First UMC Sheridan.

Church forges ties with Sand Creek Massacre descendants
Being a consistent presence has helped the Native American Committee of First United Methodist Church in Sheridan, Wyoming, gain acceptance.
Social Concerns
Josélyne Kubwimana, a graduate of the Burundi Conference’s tailoring school at Nyabugogo United Methodist Church in Gitega, sews a clerical stole. Kubwimana completed three months of training and now sews clergy attire and school uniforms to support herself and raise funds for the United Methodist Women’s Center. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UM News.

Income projects empower women in Burundi
nited Methodist women engage in farming and tailoring to earn a livelihood and financially support church programs.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2025 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved