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BY A/CAPTAIN TOM TAYLOR –
Disaster response was the theme of the recent Hawaiian and Pacific Island’s divisional Men’s Fellowship camp, held at Camp Homelani on the North Shore of Oahu.
Under the insightful and inspirational instruction of National Disaster Services Coordinator Major David Dalberg and Territorial Disaster Services Coordinator Tom McSherry, the campers became aware of what disaster response is all about. Terms such as “emergency operations plans,” “emergency operations center,” and “incident management,” “mitigation,” “preparedness,” “preparation,” and “response” became familiar to the group.
Most importantly, the men learned about the powerful ministry of disaster response, with its strong spiritual component. Both Dalberg and McSherry shared story after story from their actual experiences which not only broke hearts but brought elation because we belong to this organization.
The spiritual atmosphere was powerful–the praise and worship, the men’s voices lifting up to God in song–were beautiful and inspiring. During the opening session, one camper testified he had a confession to make: “I’m ashamed to say I didn’t want to come to this camp. I was made to come. I thought it would be boring and not have any spiritual aspect to it, but I was wrong. Please forgive me, God, for being so shortsighted.” He then led prayer for the two guests and their families. His moving confession and testimony set the spiritual tone for the rest of the weekend.
We returned home physically tired, but spiritually renewed with both a new perspective and tools to work with as we think about and prepare our local disaster response initiatives.
