John Louk

I spoke to Pastor Linda Bibb this evening. She’s the outgoing pastor at Salem Church where I have been appointed effective July 1. Salem is just a couple of blocks from the Cedar River in downtown Cedar Rapids. She told me they were evacuated from the church building at 4:00 pm yesterday. The wonderful people of this congregation worked together sandbagging and moving as much as they could to the second and third floors. But the river was too much. Linda said the water is at least 8-10 feet deep at the church building. There is a car port over one of the entrances and the water is above that car port. So the water could be to the second floor now. This picture from the Cedar Rapids Gazette shows how high the water was earlier today at the Dairy Queen which is right across the street from Salem United Methodist Church. Unfortunately, the river hasn’t even crested yet so the flooding will probably get worse. We will attempt to get to Cedar Rapids tomorrow. In the midst of all this we ar

Last Sunday I preached for the last time at First Church. You can listen to the sermon here . It was a wonderful day. At the beginning of the service, the Lead Pastor, Kevin LaGree, invited my family to the front of the church and said the church had a surprise for us. At that moment five people in the congregation stood up and came forward. It was such a cool moment. They brought prayer shawls to each member of my family and placed them around our shoulders. The prayer shawls are an important ministry of First Church. Each shawl is beautifully knitted and crocheted and blessed and given to a person in need of the congregation’s prayers. They symbolism was clear: We are going on to a new place of ministry covered with the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Des Moines. Following worship the Staff-Parish Relations Committee hosted a farewell reception for my family. It was a great experience to have so many people greet us lovingly, and to see friends who surprised us by showing up.