Journey Church Worship Pastor Jon Thill leading the Sunday (March 15) service held at Bethel Baptist Church in Bourbonnais. Screenshot
Kankakee | Nearly a week after an EF3 tornado struck Journey Church of Kankakee County, Church Treasurer Rachel Thill said she feels, “God’s inexplicable peace about the situation. We shouldn’t have any peace, but we do.”
The church, which lost two thirds of its roof and received significant structural damage from the March 10 tornado, held its Sunday worship services at Bethel Baptist Church in Bourbonnais.
When asked how others can be praying for Journey Church and its members, Thill said, “We believe God has a plan for our church. Pray for us to have the wisdom to follow God’s will for our church. Pray we have peace and patience as we work to do what is needed to rebuild.” A structural engineer is coming to assess the church building on Friday
The IBDR Incident Command Team was at the Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) located in a Methodist Church on March 16 to help those affected by the March 10 tornado. Submitted photo
Amid the destruction, Thill said the church has been blessed by businesses and organizations who have provided free storage for items they have salvaged from the church, meals while they combed through the debris, and other services. Thill’s husband Jon serves as the church’s worship pastor, which is currently without a pastor.
Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) began ministering in Kankakee on Monday (March 16) through a five-person Incident Command Team led by Glen Carty, IBDR Interim State Director, at a Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC). A MARC is a designated site where individuals and families can go to access emergency relief services from local, state, federal, and non-profit organizations following a disaster.
Carty said three Chainsaw Teams are expected to arrive to begin work on Tuesday. Two more teams are discussing coming the following week. Teams from Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma have also offered their assistance.
He described the damage they saw to the area as they were driving in as looking “really bad.” Carty said there were “trees everywhere, and some homes were completely gone.”
Members of the IBDR Incident Command Team saw the path of destruction left by the March 10 EF3 tornado that tore through the Kankakee and Aroma Park areas as they drove in on March 16. Submitted photo
The team was also able to drive by Journey Church, and Carty said he wants to send an IBDR team by to assist with “debris and tree removal.”
On Wednesday (March 18), IBDR was asked to provide a feeding team to serve in the Kankakee area the week of March 22-28. If you are a trained Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer, and available to serve that week, please see your IBDR email and contact Tom Clore.
Carty believes there is much work to be done and thinks it could be a multi-week callout.
Beverly Schmidt, is a founding member of the church, who was there when it was “just a prayer group.” Her son Chad Ozee, now on a church staff in Florida, was the church’s founding pastor. Ozee was pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville when he felt the call to plant Journey Church in 2010. It officially became a church in 2011.
“I’m very encouraged to see the Journey core group trying to figure out the next steps,” Schmidt said. “Jon and Rachel are really leading out. I believe the church wants to move forward.”
For more information about Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief, visit IBSA.org/dr. IBDR is a volunteer organization ministering with the Illinois Baptist State Association. IBDR volunteers as serve as part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief ministry, the third largest relief agency in the United States behind the American Red Cross and Salvation Army.
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