Northern Arkansas, 2008: An F2 tornado rips through the area in February. The spring months are filled with “flooding galore.” Late summer brings damaging winds from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. After all of that, David Kapler, pastor at Trinity, Mountain Home, Ark., thought the region had gotten its fair share of severe weather.

Fast forward to Jan. 26, 2009. A storm system produces precipitation and freezing temperatures. Power lines and trees become coated with more than three inches of ice and eventually begin to snap. Hundreds of thousands are left without power. National media report several deaths in Arkansas and surrounding states because of the storm.

“Talking to local people who are in their 70s and 80s, they’ve never seen anything like it,” says Kapler. Thankfully, the members of Trinity were safe. and their homes and the church facilities were not damaged by the storm; but Kapler says almost everyone in the city was without electricity. “It was incredible,” he says. “We had people waiting in line at Home Depot and Lowe’s and anywhere they could find a generator. Truckloads were coming in.”

Kapler says there were many people in Mountain Home that couldn’t get generators, so he called WELS Relief for help. WELS Relief sent $2,500 and a trailer of relief supplies, making it possible for Trinity to loan out eight generators.

One of them went to a couple that Kapler found through the local radio station. They had arranged to pick up the generator at Trinity; when the couple pulled up, Kapler noticed some interesting bumper stickers on their car. “They had one that said, ‘What would Buddha do?’, another with the little Darwin fish, and my favorite: ‘Gods don’t kill people. People with gods kill people.’ ” Kapler says they didn’t discuss religion that day—but he did give the couple a booklet, “God Our Refuge,” and some information about Trinity when they returned the generator. “I invited them to church so they could come and hear what Jesus did instead of what Buddha would do,” he says.

Although it remains to be seen what impact, if any, that had on the couple, Kapler says it’s important to take advantages of opportunities to witness and show Christ’s love—and the members of Trinity have been doing just that. Armed with chainsaws, groups swept the neighborhood and asked residents if they needed help cleaning up their yards. The congregation also used some of the WELS Relief funds to help lower-income families purchase necessities like food and gasoline for their generators.