April 27th, 2026

New England Baptist team serving in Western North Carolina during flood recovery in April 2026


By Linda Hokit

God Has a Plan

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 
plans to give you hope and a future
(Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

Last week, I helped clean out a lady’s home that was flooded during Hurricane Helene September 2024. It left damage from Florida to North Carolina and into Tennessee. Record rain fall caused floods and mud slides, and storm surges. In North Carolina alone 108 people died and damage there was nearly $60 Billion. It’s no surprise that people are still recovering.

While in North Carolina, we heard about all sorts of ways people are helping one another. I’d like to tell you about just one group in particular who is still working in Christ’s name to help people recover.  I pick North Carolina because I spent time there as a college student. I worked at a camp, did an internship, and spoke in churches in the very same area where Helene hit. As far as I know the camp I worked at is gone. The lake we drove by in town was filled to the shore line with debris. The city and state have worked hard to recover the lake where a well-known movie was filmed, so people can renew the joy of going there. When I heard about a mission group made up of New England Baptist heading down that way I just had to go, because I felt God had a plan for me.

When the storm hit, the Baptist Convention of North Carolina committed to help people affected by the storm to recover by fixing homes damaged by the hurricane. A group within the convention called Baptist On Missions set up five mission centers in Western North Carolina and decided to stay with the ministry until people can be housed. I went to the East Flat Rock ministry center. There were 70 people from a number of states there. Some have come back multiple times at their own expense. So, far 865 homes have been cleaned of mud and mold and rebuilt. There are currently 210 homes in the process of being completed. Plus, 19 homes have been built from scratch. God’s plan is working!

So, how did New England Baptist get involved? Well, a group called Carpenters for Christ in North Carolina have been part of the recovery. “It just so happens” that this same group has been coming to Vermont to help build facilities for a Northeastern Baptist College in Bennington, VT and were able to share information about how North Carolina Southern Baptist were handling the storm recovery. Staff at the college helped organize the trip. College students signed up, high school seniors decided to make the trip there “Senior Trip”, and Northern New England Disaster Relief jumped on board as well. Soon we had a team because, God had a plan. 

We would drive down two days, go to church, work four days and then drive home. During the onboarding process we had to provide a skills assessment related to construction. Well, only a few people had construction skills. When the Baptist On Missions Management team learned they had an apparently unskilled group they wondered how to use us. However, God had a plan, because there were two locations that did not need construction help. They needed Disaster Relief workers!

So, the chainsaw team worked in one location and the recovery team worked in another. We had the skills needed to handle both jobs! But it gets better. Because we did not have bathroom facilities available at the worksite, we had to go to a quick stop. We got to know the staff and they were amazingly hospitable to us. Come to find out, one of the shop staff lived in the Lake Lure-Bat Cave area. About that time, the ministry center director asked us to pray about a contact in that very same area! We got the director together with the worker and now the team will be able to help more people there. God had a plan! Then, our chaplains began checking on neighbors around our work location and were able to find two more families nearby needing help. We connected them with the Baptist On Mission and heard before we left for home that they had contacted the homeowners. God had a plan!

For me, going to North Carolina was a way to thank people who had graciously let a kid from Colorado come to work with their children. They “loved on us”, tolerated us, guided us and welcomed us back year after year. I knew when I left Vermont that I probably would not be able to go help the people I met in my young years, but I did get pleasure of meeting the Lake Lure worker in the quick stop. I did get to do a hard job for people who had experienced a hard thing. God had a plan!
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Sometimes we want God to do things in our way and according to our timing. We want Him to affirm our grand plans. We want Him to relieve us of our hard times. And yet, God has a plan. So, let’s lean into the confidence that God’s timing, plans and ways of work are perfect and purposeful. Because God has a plan. A plan plans to provide hope and a future for us, for those we love, for those we work with, for those we worship with and those we minister to. God has a plan