From Tragedy to Testimony

Teresa Neumann : Jan 29, 2013
Dan Van Veen — Assemblies of God News

Church outreach after Hurricane Sandy Impacts community. "Many have seen acts of love before, but for a person to go down into a crawl space loaded with mold and scrape it out for a total stranger? That's love. And people are responding to a demonstration of love they've never seen before!" -Pastor Peter Conforti

(Island Park, NY)—Pastor Peter Conforti and the members of Full Gospel Church (AG) of Island Park, New York, were shocked to the core when Hurricane Sandy hit last fall.

As reported in Assembly of God News, with many of his congregants from the hard-hit areas of Island Park and Long Beach, Pastor Conforti suddenly found his church of 250 had almost instantly dwindled to 60 as some members had their homes totally destroyed or made at least temporarily uninhabitable. And unknown to them at the time, the area would mostly be without power—with the exception of generators—for the next three weeks or more.

"The church was on higher ground, so we never thought it would be flooded," said Conforti. "But the sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, Christian education wing—all had water standing in them. When the water receded, we took out the carpet, pews . . . anything even remotely close to the floor was finished, because the sea water is so corrosive and full of bacteria, it made a mess of everything.

"One of the first things that hit me," Conforti continued, "was how inclusive the damage was—it was everybody, everybody [in the community] was under water—basements, first floors and even higher than that. Everyone was scrambling trying to find places to live, or to come back to, but for many, everything was gone."

However, according to the report, God was already at work.

Relief organization Convoy of Hope was there within 24 hours and it was then that Conforti noted something odd began to happen. As the community reeled, Conforti and Full Gospel Church became a constant. The community knew where to go for aid. After three weeks, power was restored, and the church unexpectedly transitioned again.

"When the power came back on, Samaritan's Purse contacted us—they wanted to use our church for a staging area," said Conforti. "I tried to explain that our church interior was nothing more than cement floors and exposed beams where the drywall had been ripped out. But they assured us that the church would be fine."

It wasn't long, the report noted, before word spread about what Samaritan's Purse and Full Gospel Church were doing. More and more people came to the church to sign up for a team to come to their homes.

"The sole purpose of the Samaritan's Purse outreach was to show people God's love in a tangible way," Conforti says. "We were there as well, with chaplains from the Billy Graham organization, helping people deal with the loss and frustrations they were experiencing."

As the teams ministered to people with their attitudes and physical labor, the spiritual doors began to open. "People were asking, 'Why are you here?'" Conforti says. "And we told them, 'We're here to help you and show you God loves you, knows what you're going through and to trust Him.'"

Conforti told AG News that prior to Hurricane Sandy, the church had many walls and stereotypes to overcome in order to reach the community. But following the storm, where the church and ministries displayed the love of Christ through being a servant to the community, people were suddenly more receptive and open.

"Our first week of services, we had about 60 people here," he said. "The next, we had about 120."

However, since the beginning of the Samaritan's Purse outreach into homes, 80 people have reportedly accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. The church is also running 250 again—but the congregation is made up of a lot of new faces as many of the original families have still been unable to return to their homes or have moved from the area.

Conforti doesn't believe the church could have ever made this kind of impact upon its community through evangelism, crusade meetings or programs.

"Many have seen acts of love before," noted Conforti, "but for a person to go down into a crawl space loaded with mold and scrape it out for a total stranger? That's love. And people are responding to a demonstration of love they've never seen before!"