Victory Tabernacle Church on Middle Crossing Road is collecting items for Joplin tornado relief with a donated semi truck and trailer to deliver specific items collected to Missouri.

As Youth Pastor James Gibson said Thursday, “This story is very close to our church. We have family members and colleagues there. The international headquarters for the Pentecostal Church of God is in Joplin. Two years ago our Bible quiz team became national champs in Joplin.”

And that summation barely scratches the surface.

There’s the college student from here, although Kayli Price, who graduated from Messenger College this past May, was visiting home when the tornado struck Sunday evening, May 22. “She wanted to go back immediately to help,” he said.

Gibson, who ironically is from Flint, where a twister of similar deadly magnitude struck in 1953 and to which Joplin has been compared, last Sunday celebrated “a good five years” in Dowagiac, his wife Jessica’s hometown.

Despite the wide swath of devastation, Gibson said the Pentecostal Church’s world headquarters remains in Joplin.

“They’re fine, our college and our headquarters, no damage. They’re on the other side of 44,” Gibson said Thursday afternoon.

“Rangeline is the main road that got hit, and that’s their Grape Road, like South Bend. We have 1,100 churches in the U.S. and several hundred overseas. We have people collecting through our organization all over the United States.

“We have four churches in Joplin,” he continued. “Three of them were mildly damaged, one of them was destroyed. The pastor of the church that was destroyed actually did some revival services for us in March. He was here, so we have a good relationship with” Pastor Josh Pennington, who is expected to return to Dowagiac in November.

“They were in church when it happened,” Gibson said. “They attend church in Missouri a little bit more than northerners. They’re there all the time. He gathered his group in the middle of their foyer and sanctuary and they huddled together. Everyone was safe. No one even had a scratch, but the church was a loss.

“It’s affected us much because the resources this church pulls from is every bit from our headquarters. We’ve had a longstanding relationship with them. Everyone here knows somebody there, so it’s hit pretty hard. My wife and I were at a conference in November and shopped at the Wal-Mart that was split in half. We bought stuff at a sports store that’s gone. It’s not there anymore. Seeing the views on TV is difficult. One of my closest friends actually worked in the hospital that was demolished. He clocked out 40 minutes before that tornado hit.”

Victory Tabernacle, congregation of about 100, is working with one of the largest Pentecostal churches, Joplin Faith Worship Cener (jfwc.org), which has 800 to 1,000 members.

“They have become one of the main resource centers for Joplin,” said Gibson, whose office ceiling still bears scars from roof damage Victory Tabernacle suffered in the same high winds which raked Union High School and Municipal Airport a year ago.

“The pastors there are Dan and Cindi Wermuth. Cindi’s mom attends our church. Red Cross is sending people there to get help. They’ve asked us to collect specific items because they’re working with other communities. They have been overwhelmed with clothes and are not taking clothes.

“We are collecting brand-new pillows (a carton of 10 fresh from Pamida occupies the corner of his office) and work gloves,” of which he’s received about three dozen.

Also welcome are hygiene items, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste (100 so far) and new underwear and socks.

“We just started our collection Sunday, so right now it’s just local,” Gibson said, but with their phone number published on rebuildjoplin.org, that’s changing.

“We’re getting calls from everywhere,” he said. “I got a call from Anchorage, Alaska, to donate 3,000 brand-new children’s books, but it doesn’t make sense to ship them here. We’ve had calls from North Carolina and Lansing, which was working on the relief efforts for the tornadoes in Mississippi. FEMA is no longer taking supplies she has, so she’s donating them to us — blankets, pillows, cases of water. When I talk to my friends, they say if they see another bottle of water they’re going to throw it, they have so much. That’s why we’re sticking to a couple of items rather than ‘whatever you have.’

“Pillows and work gloves are our two biggest things. We have a list we’re working from, but we’re trying to get every community to do something different. Another community may be doing shoes. And if someone wanted to donate shovels, brooms, rakes, new blankets, we’d take it. We just won’t take clothes except new socks and underwear.

“We will be the hub for the Dowagiac community, with about two weeks to work on it to see what we can get. My goal is 50 brand-new pillows from Dowagiac and  we’ve got 10. Financial donations we’ll use to buy supplies or give it directly to the resource center. I trust the Red Cross, but we’re working through the Pentecostal Church of God because I’ve physically been in the buildings where the supplies are going. It makes it personal for us. I know exactly who’s handing out the supplies, I know exactly who’s getting the money and where it’s going, so no disrespect to the Red Cross or other organizations that are doing a great job.

“We have 66 churches in Michigan, but our church in Dowagiac is the hub for our conference because we’re closer to Joplin. It seems like the longest part of the drive is once you get on 44. From St. Louis it’s about four hours. Joplin’s exit seven, so there are seven miles left before you get into Oklahoma. It gets very hot there.

“The church we’re working with last week provided three meals a day to everyone. They have 200 volunteers working there daily. Our national director in charge of all of our youth programs in all of our churches, he and his family were out until 4 in the morning pulling people out of rubble. He’s a good friend of ours. These are not people who say, ‘I hope we get something done.’ They’re on the ground working. I’m proud to be part of that.

“Other friends are to the point of having a little fun. They put a for-rent sign in their yard, where there’s nothing but a pile of rubble. Their house is not there anymore.

“The first few days, my wife and I were losing sleep and this was our answer to do something. Later, we’ll be rebuilding churches.”

Gibson’s brother lives in Flint, where relief work is being organized as well.

A trucking company north of Flint donated the semi, a driver and free gas to deliver every item collected.

“They’re going to be swinging through Dowagiac to pick up anything we have to take down on their dime,” Gibson said. “Our deadline is Thursday, June 16. The truck leaves Flint the very next week. Office hours here are Tuesday through Thursday.” Or, messages can be left for James at 782-8305.

Gibson said of the Flint connection, “My mom and dad were not there yet when that happened, but when I was a youth pastor in Flint, our older members remembered that.”

“The church here has been overwhelming” with their desire to help. “We have a deep connection there. We have six churches in southwest MIchigan,” including Berrien Springs and Hartford working with Dowagiac.

“What I have learned about this interesting community in five years is that if there is a need, they will do what they can to fill that need and to give relief to those who are less fortunate, which I appreciate as a pastor.”

Joplin is “going to need help for a very long time,” Gibson said. “There’s no end in sight.”