Bishop Brian Cole updates the Diocese of East Tennessee on the assessment of church property in East Tennessee as well as offering new ways to give to directly impact the communities in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

Donate to East Tennessee: https://onrealm.org/dioet/-/form/give/2024flood

To donate to the Diocese of East TN relief efforts, complete the Realm online giving portal. For questions, please call 865-966-2110.

Donate to Western North Carolina: https://secure.accessacs.com/access/oglogin.aspx?sn=148858&f=4

Please read before clicking: To donate to the Diocese of Western North Carolina, click on the above link, then, in the “to” field where it will likely say “Seminarian Fund”, click on that box and change it to “Partners in Mission” and in the “optional memo field” type Hurricane Helene.

As always, to give on a broader scope, please visit Episcopal Relief and Development to donate to the wider Southeast.

This is a reading from Psalm 69, verses one through three:

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out. My throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

This is Bishop Brian, and I wish I was with you right now in East Tennessee. I’m in Baltimore, Maryland, for a meeting, and I am seeing heartbreaking images of significant flooding, loss of life throughout the southeast and dioceses all around East Tennessee. In East Tennessee, we are seeing significant flooding and damage from flooding. You are in my prayers.

The diocesan staff are reaching out and checking in with clergy and lay leaders in our parishes across East Tennessee who are being impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

Please keep each other in your prayers. Please stay safe. And now we will be updating you as we know more about the damage in our communities and in our parish churches, and how together we will respond together.

For now, thank you, thank you, thank you for your care and love of each other and the region we call home in East Tennessee. Continue to pray for all those who’ve already been hurt and the loss of life throughout the southeast because of this horrific and historic hurricane. We will be responding.

For now, stay safe, say your prayers, and continue to love neighbor and stranger alike. Thank you.

St. Thomas, Elizabethton

Friday and Saturday, September 27 & 28 – We have been in contact with The Rev. Tim Holder of St. Thomas, Elizabethton. The downtown area of Elizabethton has been evacuated and the church is being monitored for storm damage.

Sunday, September 29 – Bishop Brian Cole, along with the Rev. Jon Hermes of St. Michael’s, Kingsport, visited St. Thomas. Upon an initial walkthrough, the parish is in fine condition, only having experienced cosmetic landscape damage.

Monday, October 14 – Upon professional inspection by two remediation companies and the Church Insurance adjustor, the basement, crawl space, and shed are in need of clean-up and remediation.