Loganville Church makes trip to tornado-ravaged Missouri town

Most Mission trips involve building things up. But for Loganville's Corinth Christian Church, this one was about tearing down.

A group of 21 volunteers from the church, located in the youth community just south of Loganville, traveled to Joplin, Mo. last week. Joplin, a medium sized city located in the extreme southwestern corner of Missouri, was devastated by an EF-5 tornado last month. The group spent some time lending a hand at the Victim Assistance Center located at College Heights Christian School, just outside the affected area, sorting and distributing supplies and food to victims of the storm. However, most of their time was spent in the disaster area, clearing debris and tearing down the remains of two homes in some of the hardest hit areas of the town.

"Usually on a trip like this, there's that one person who isn't working, just sitting on the cooler all day", said Adam Turner, pastor of Corinth Christian Church. Turner, 32, is a native of nearby Carthage, Mo. He attended Ozark Christian College in Joplin and also began his ministry at a church in downtown Joplin. "But not this one. Everyone worked so hard, nobody complained, nobody wanted to stop. We were able to help two families get on with their lives, tearing down those houses with little more than a sledgehammer, a crowbar and a broken axe."

Turner's wife Jennifer, also from Carthage, initially was very apprehensive about seeing a place so dear to her so damaged .

"I was expecting to be devastated when I saw the town. However, the entire thing affected me differently than I thought," she said. "There was just too much hope to allow myself to focus on the tragedy."

Hope was a recurring theme to those in the group. Seventeen-year-old Miranda Bell of Monroe said, "Along with our church, we saw churches from all over coming to help clean up houses. It was amazing to see how God was working to help these people."

The family of one of the homes the group cleared had taken cover in a shower during the storm. As it passed, the storm ripped the house apart around them, trapping the mother and daughter in the shower. The owner fractured his wrist freeing them from the rubble, losing a ring of high sentimental value in the process. Upon hearing this story, several of the group combed the area around the shower, finally locating the ring and several other items.

"Watching Adam give that ring back to him was the highlight of the trip" said one group member.

Hope is abundant in Joplin. The Home Depot, leveled in the storm and the site of many of the fatalities, is already reopened, under a large tent. Shakes, a regional frozen custard restaurant located in the rubble strewn past of the twister, was one of the few building in the district that emerged unscathed. It's bright, cheery lights flash pink and yellow, a stark contrast to the dark scar that appears to cover a third of the town each night.

Loganville's volunteers arrived safely back in Georgia late Friday night, each deeply affected by what they witnessed.

"We left as individuals, but came back as a group," said Jason Johnson of Loganville.