Taken from: Restoring hope

GROUND ZERO: A/G MINISTERS WORKING WITH THE RESCUE EFFORT

By Judi Murphy

September 14, 2001

The eyes of the world continue to focus on the area of New York once known as the World Trade Center, but now spoken commonly of as "Ground Zero." As rescuers continue the gruesome task of recovering the remains of victims, Assemblies of God pastors and missionaries are working to gain access to the ground zero area to minister to and support the rescue workers.

"You could watch every movie you want, but you could just not imagine this," said Ricky Del Rio, pastor of Abounding Grace church, which stands in the middle of the cordoned off area of Manhattan. "It looks like a war zone down here." Del Rio has been assisting with the rescue efforts since 10:30 a.m., the day of the attack.

Mark Gregori, pastor of Crossway Church in the Bronx, began working at ground zero yesterday afternoon. "The first thing I thought as I walked around down there is 'This is like a movie, but this is like no movie set I have ever seen.' The most notable things are the vehicles--police trucks and ambulances--that are crushed and bombed out. It looks like something you see in Israel or Lebanon," said Gregori. "I thought, 'What in the world has happened here? Where are these people?' and then it dawned on me that these were the vehicles of the first responders, these people had given their lives."

Del Rio and Gregori have been working mostly at the morgues where many people are not only trying to identify the dead, but also coming to find people who are still listed as missing. "As the rescue people are working, they come to look for news of their friends. A lot of these guys have lost loved ones, buddies, whole companies--the guys who responded first were wiped out," said Del Rio. "All we can do is be there to put an arm around them and help them find information. That means the world to these guys right now."

Del Rio says the need for clergy is overwhelming. "One officer told me 'We need more of you guys [pastors] down here right now, than we do of us.'"

"We haven't even begun to think of how we will need to help these people long term," said Del Rio. "People have lost jobs, relatives, providers, kids have lost parents and realization of all that we have lost has not fully come--that won't start to hit for another week or so."

Both Del Rio and Gregori sense openness to God is stronger than ever before in New York. "There is no anger toward God," said Gregori. "What comes to mind is that the best of what God created people to be is coming out, and at the same time, they, as His creations are recognizing that 'Hey, there is someone here that created me that I need to turn to right now.' There is a sense of reverence and openness to God that has never been present in this city before."

And Del Rio and Gregori have been working with city and government officials to clear the red tape for more pastors to be allowed into the area to provide grief counseling and support.

"The area is cordoned off at 14th Street and only residents and emergency personnel are allowed beyond that point for now, but a lot of our [lay]people live in that area, and right now we just have them walking around, being there for people," said Del Rio. "We are keeping our church open 24 hours for people to come in and pray."

"This is going to take months to deal with the emotional fall out of this," said Del Rio. "It's going to require a lot of spiritual help and counseling. We want a representation here along with the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the Southern Baptists who are already here."

"We need to have our churches open and be ready to minister to those who are hurting," Gregori said. Del Rio and Gregori are currently setting up Abounding Grace (Del Rio's church) to be the headquarters that will eventually coordinate efforts to bring pastors into the area.

Details for ministerial volunteers will be forthcoming. Check the A/G News Web site daily for more information.