One of the leaders of a Christian organization that trains and mobilizes churches to serve their communities is describing the post-wildfire situation in Maui, Hawaii, as “really apocalyptic.” But despite the chaos following the disastrous flames that torched thousands of acres of land and killed at least 111 people, Todd Lamphere, vice president of government relations for CityServe, says he believes God is still moving in mighty ways.
“We’re seeing hope,” Lamphere told CBN’s Faithwire. “We’re seeing God’s people mobilized, we’re seeing God’s people activated, we’re seeing God’s people doing what God’s people do best — and that is being the hands of feet if Jesus.” He said people are loving others and trying to help amid the intense “hurt and devastation.” Lamphere, who has been around many disaster zones, described the somber nature of seeing cars and houses destroyed, with people displaced and homeless in the process.
Meanwhile, much uncertainty abounds. “A ton of people still waiting to hear about their loved ones,” he said.
CityServe is working with local churches to distribute 250,000 prepackaged meals, with other resources — including cleaning supplies and toiletries — on the way.
“This is the beauty of the body of Christ and the faith organizations that do disaster response,” Lamphere said, noting the effort is being undertaken by numerous well-known Christian relief groups and churches who are coming together to assist. In addition to immediate needs like food, clothing, and housing, there will also be long-term essentials people will need after the wildfires.
“The good part of a town [is] destroyed and so it’s going to take take a good while for all of this to come together,” he said, explaining CityServe’s role in the process. “We’re here to resource the local church long-term so that they can become the hero in the community.”
Watch Lamphere discuss the rescue and recovery efforts.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
