Thankfully, disasters don’t happen every day. So, what does ADRN’s network of more than 200 churches and volunteers do when winds are calm and skies are blue? They train and prepare to step in when disaster strikes – no matter what form it takes.
For most volunteers, the skills they learn in these classes also work away from the disaster site.
John Clark, an ADRN volunteer, sat in his home in Liberty Hill and got a knock at his front door. When he opened it, two of his neighbors – a husband and his wife – stood on his front porch.
“We need to talk to you. We’re going through a divorce,” they said.
John was taken aback. “When I heard this, my heart stopped, but I knew God had prepared me for this,” he said.
Before their visit, John had taken ADRN’s Critical Incident Stress Management Plus (CISM+) training. CISM+ teaches volunteers crisis intervention techniques and coping mechanisms to help survivors walk out of trauma and into recovery.
“In CISM+, you learn to ask the crucial question: How do you see something good coming out of this?” John said. “Because of this training, I helped this couple have a quality conversation about their marriage.”
Not long after that, the Liberty Hill City Council asked for his help at an upcoming meeting. Everyone in the city knew the meeting would be contentious.
“They were going to ask for resignations. So before the meeting, I pulled out my notes from the training to prepare, prayed, and told God that I wanted to be the greatest representation of Him that I could be,” John said. By the time the meeting was over, council members were talking WITH each other instead of AT each other.
“When I stepped out of the meeting, one of the police officers told me how amazing the meeting and the people were. I told him, ‘We weren’t amazing. God was.’ It was awesome to be a part of what God did for our community,” John said. Learn more about training opportunities that can help you be ready to serve in disasters and in “blue skies” at I AM READY.
