Faith
One Church’s Year-Long Mission After Waters Took 138 Lives
Faith Facts
- Riverside Church of Christ in Kerrville, Texas, led a year-long relief effort following devastating floods on July 4, 2025, that killed at least 138 people in Central Texas
- The congregation built or rebuilt 46 homes and assisted more than 1,000 flood survivors with clothing, furniture, and housing while feeding and sheltering volunteers
- A documentary honoring the 200+ Kerr County victims will premiere on the one-year anniversary, showcasing how the church answered God’s call to serve their neighbors
More than 200 residents of Kerr County — victims of the devastating July 4, 2025, floods in Central Texas that killed at least 138 people — will be honored on the anniversary of that tragedy by a local church that spent the past year serving, feeding, comforting and rebuilding the lives of their neighbors. A 36-minute documentary, “When the Waters Receded: Answering God’s Call to Serve,” produced by Jennifer Allen of the Riverside Church of Christ in Kerrville, Texas, will begin the evening.
In the wake of waters that rose as the Guadalupe River crested at 37.5 feet, members and staff of the congregation organized a relief effort that engulfed the facility and people of the church for an entire year. They were still answering requests for mattresses 363 days after the flood.
A year ago, Riverside minister Chris Carrillo called the congregation to begin a marathon. Over the next 12 months, church members partnered with several disaster relief organizations associated with Churches of Christ to salvage, serve and restore homes and lives.
Together they built or rebuilt 46 homes and assisted more than 1,000 survivors with clothing, furniture and housing. They provided area first responders with chainsaws, buckets, rakes, cleaning supplies, water, food and more. The church fed volunteers and housed them in its facilities.
“All of the pain that we go through in life can either build us up or break us down,” Riverside minister Chris Carrillo said in the documentary.
“And if we don’t use the pain and the hurt in our lives in order to help others, if we don’t take the comfort which God has given us in order to comfort others, what an unbelievably wasted opportunity.”
Elder Ron Watson said the church hopes this week’s event will provide “some closure to the devastation that happened here.”
“It’s a joyful event because we’re completing God’s work,” Watson said.
Allen, a former television journalist in San Antonio, had collected video and interviews over the course of the year, not knowing how they might be used. “The team that lived up here, the ones that dedicated their life for a full year here, were the ones that decided to do this,” she said.
“It’s a final embrace.”
The documentary captures the heart of Christian service in action — believers putting faith into practice through sacrificial love for their neighbors. When disaster strikes, churches like Riverside demonstrate what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ in a hurting world.
The year-long commitment by this Texas congregation stands as a powerful testimony to the transforming power of the Gospel. While government agencies and secular organizations often provide short-term assistance, it was the local church that remained committed for the long haul, meeting needs day after day for an entire year.
This is what Biblical community looks like in practice — Christians caring for one another and their neighbors with enduring compassion and tangible help. The 46 rebuilt homes represent more than construction projects; they symbolize lives restored and hope renewed through faithful servants answering God’s call.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- Crieve Hall Church of Christ in Nashville remains committed to a cappella worship, male leadership in preaching and communion, and a statement of faith that affirms “correctly handling His Word without adding to or taking from it.”
- Lipscomb University, four miles away, now welcomes instrumental worship, female speakers, and lecturers from various Christian traditions, reflecting a widening theological gap within Churches of Christ.
- Both the Connect Conference at Crieve Hall and the Lipscomb Faith and Leadership Forum stressed discipleship, biblical faithfulness, and spiritual growth, yet neither event made significant mention of the other.
Two events unfolded just four miles apart in Nashville, yet the theological distance between them felt far greater. One gathering championed what attendees called “sound preaching” rooted in Scripture alone. The other focused on discerning the cultural moment and leading faithfully in changing times.
Crieve Hall Church of Christ hosted its sixth annual Connect Conference, drawing 1,322 believers from more than 300 congregations. Organizers described the three-day meeting as “rooted firmly in Scripture and centered on Christ,” with sessions on evangelism, discipleship, and spiritual growth.
“I love the sound preaching,” said attendee Tonja McRady. “All it means to me is that it comes from the Bible. Are you preaching from the whole Bible, the whole counsel of God?”
Meanwhile, Lipscomb University held its inaugural Faith and Leadership Forum for about 160 ministers and leaders. Sessions addressed faith and politics, ministry burnout, and discipleship in a digitally saturated world. Bible professor Leonard Allen described the two streams as “conservative mainstream” and “moderate mainstream” Churches of Christ.
“With truth becoming loose and malleable in our time, we need more focus on the essentials of the faith,” Allen said. “This was a key theme at the Forum.”
The central question remains: What qualifies as essential? At Connect, speakers repeatedly pointed to “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” from Ephesians 4 and stressed the necessity of baptism and proper biblical leadership.
“What if we just settle on going with what God says, God’s way?” asked minister Hiram Kemp. “God doesn’t want our creativity. He wants our compliance. It’s been revealed to us in Scripture.”
At Lipscomb, participants wrestled with cultural decline and spiritual seeking. Allen noted that 40 million Americans have left the faith in the past quarter-century, yet many young people still search for meaning.
“Is America standing on the edge of spiritual renewal, or are we witnessing the continuing, steady decline of Christian faith in America?” Allen asked. “The old patterns are no longer stable. New patterns have not yet emerged. It seems there is energy but also confusion all around.”
Both gatherings closed with calls for unity, yet each framed it differently. Matt Cook at Connect warned, “Unity without truth is just togetherness.” Carlus Gupton at Lipscomb urged leaders to pursue Holy Spirit-formed leadership that is “calm, steady and deeply rooted in Christ.”
Gupton later reflected, “The proximity of these two conferences actually gives me more reason for hope than concern. Connect seeks to strengthen Christians in biblical faithfulness, discipleship, evangelism and spiritual growth. The Faith and Leadership Forum seeks to equip church leaders for faithful, discerning leadership in a changing culture.”
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- Christians are called to redeem every tool for God’s glory and the spread of the Gospel.
- Artificial intelligence is a human creation and remains under God’s sovereign authority.
- Believers must approach emerging technologies with wisdom rooted in Scripture.
Christians around the world are asking an important question as artificial intelligence grows more powerful. How can this technology be captured for the glory of God and the advancement of the Gospel?
Scripture teaches that every good gift comes from above. Technology itself is not evil, but its use must be directed by truth and righteousness.
AI systems are built by people and trained on data created by people. They reflect human choices and remain limited by the boundaries God has established.
Believers have a responsibility to guide these tools toward purposes that honor Christ and serve others. That includes sharing the Gospel, protecting life, and strengthening families.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,” 1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us.
Churches and ministries are already exploring ways to use AI for translation, accessibility, and discipleship resources. These efforts must stay anchored in sound doctrine and prayerful discernment.
At the same time, Christians are right to raise concerns about privacy, truth, and the temptation to place ultimate trust in machines rather than in the Lord.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding,” Proverbs 3:5 declares.
Ultimately, the future belongs to the One who created all things, not to any algorithm or invention of man. AI will never have the final word over humanity.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- The little log church has stood along the historic Oregon Trail route, serving as a steadfast reminder of Christian faith amid the rugged American frontier.
- U.S. Highway 191 passes near this enduring structure, connecting modern travelers to the spiritual legacy of pioneer families who settled the West.
- The church continues to bear witness to the traditional values of faith, family, and freedom that shaped our nation’s westward expansion.
Along U.S. Highway 191 stands a little log church that looks as though it has occupied this windswept landscape since the days of wagon trains.
The humble structure serves as a tangible link to the pioneer families who carried their Bibles and their faith across the plains in search of new beginnings.
Its weathered logs and simple steeple rise against the vast Western sky, a quiet testament to the enduring strength of Christian witness in America.
Travelers passing by are reminded that the values of hard work, self-reliance, and devotion to God helped build this nation from the ground up.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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