Taken from: World Vision News

Interview With Jeremy Del Rio


2001

World Vision: How did the Ground Zero Clergy Task Force come about?

Jeremy Del Rio: On Tuesday, September 11, my father was the only identifiable clergy on the East side of the Towers. On Wednesday, he was on Channel 2, which is CBS. They interviewed him and he spoke from his heart, describing the experience and the reality that there were so few clergymen.

Within minutes of the interview, the phone started ringing and didn't stop, with ministers from all over the city who wanted to get plugged into the [the relief effort] and didn't know how. The Ground Zero Clergy Task Force is the response to that outpouring from men and women who wanted to get plugged in.

The group itself has done a number of things, attempting first to link all of these ministries an interdenominational, multi-ethnic mix of pastors and churches from around the city in such a way that we can coordinate their efforts and make sure the ministries are present and engaging people who are in need on an as-needed basis.

My role has been to help connect the dots, facilitate communication, strategic planning, public relations, and a hodgepodge of other things.

World Vision: What are those day to day actions of the task force? What do you do? How many pastors and churches are involved?

Jeremy Del Rio: Somewhere between 80 and 150 churches are attached to us. The task force has grown pretty quickly. A lot of the day-to-day stuff at this stage has been sending out communications to these ministers, getting them all in the same room, kind of explaining what's going on and how they can get involved and linking them in that way.

Beyond that we're connecting with groups like World Vision and Concerts of Prayer and some of the bigger networks so that our network is coordinating with the other evangelical ministries. We need to make sure we're not duplicating efforts, that communities are not being over- or under-resourced and that all the ministries that have an interest are being represented in some way. It's now grown to connect with a lot of the governmental bodies who want the faith-based communities to be integrated into the long-term recovery of New York City.

Last week, we met with Secretary Tommy Thompson of Health and Human Services. On Wednesday, we met with all the faith-based liaisons, the United Way, the September 11th fund. There's been a lot of community outreach in just connecting with the other entities so we're maximizing our resources to help hurting people.

World Vision: What does the task force do for hurting people?

Jeremy Del Rio: I think that's going to evolve over time. Since September 11th, it's making sure that there's a clergy presence on-site at Ground Zero as well as in some of the other "hot spots' around the city. We have accomplished that through a lot of these negotiations. Over time, access has been restricted. It's more difficult to get to the people who need us. We've been liaisons between the pastors who want to help and the people who need them.

We've been plugging people into firehouses and precincts and connecting people with people that need comfort and resource. We've been assisting with all the things that come out of a tragedy like this, with funerals, and helping direct people to resources, whatever they're entitled to from the government side, and at the same time, providing the support structure that will carry them beyond those resources.

World Vision: What are the needs that you're seeing the people needs?

Jeremy Del Rio: The people needs? I'll give you a couple of anecdotes about that. There is a real need for there to be a visible link to God at Ground Zero.

What I mean by that practically: We have a gentleman from our church who was one of the initial volunteers, who worked 'the pile' for the first 24 hours. While he was there, literally, every hour, he was calling one of the associate pastors just to stay sane. He needed a linkage to normalcy and for him that connection became the associate pastor who he was able to vent to and stay connected to over the phone. Bob is a Union carpenter, a supervisor over in Jersey. The unions came over in force early on to help with that relief work. That's one example of the need for the clergy connection.

Subsequently, the Saturday after the bombing, I was [at Ground Zero], walking through and we were praying for some of the guys. In some cases, we were just patting them on the back telling them that we support them. The response was overwhelming. We came upon the fire captain who was overseeing the operation. We went up to him and asked him if he'd like us to pray. In the middle of the prayer, he began to get messages over his radio. We paused. He said, "Please go ahead," and covered the radio. He wanted that prayer.

One of the women in our church lost her police officer brother. For the first few weeks, she was completely broken. It hit her really hard. Having that support structure at the church was so key for her. People who could listen to her, be cried upon, that was so key.

Thinking long-term, the implications are amazing. The official count of the dead and the missing is so high. That's a lot of families who are affected, never mind the eyewitnesses. The thing about the Twin Towers, wherever you stood in Manhattan, you could see it. When it was on fire and crumbling, there were millions of people watching it, not on TV, but live.

World Vision: What was your experience?

Jeremy Del Rio: I was on my way out the door for work. I was running a little bit late. There was an unconfirmed report that a plane had hit the tower. I ran to the TV and like many Americans I sat, dumbfounded, watching this building I'd grown up with, which was completed two years before I was born, go down. I'm a native New Yorker. The World Trade Center had been a part of my life forever. I was on the phone with my dad who was on-site, with my friends, family, making sure everyone was OK.

World Vision: How can the evangelical community respond effectively to the catastrophe?

Jeremy Del Rio: There's a lot of people surviving and physically OK who are going to have to deal with this on the long-term. How can we be there for them? Finding that out and responding are our goals. Regarding the psycho-emotional needs, we want to make sure the evangelical community has a voice in deciding what gets reconstructed downtown and how housing dislocation issues get addressed and how job retraining programs are organized.

In the couple of weeks since the Trade Center attack, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, and disproportionately, they're bus boys and doormen and housekeepers, people with lower income jobs that need support they don't have the insurance, they don't have that private support structure in place and we want to help them too.

World Vision: How is World Vision a part of this process?

Jeremy Del Rio: What I like about World Vision's approach so far is that they are coming alongside neighborhood churches. I don't think institutions like World Vision can do the job on the ground like the indigenous communities can. And there are, sadly, a lot of entities, national in scope that like to come to New York and dictate how things should be done without knowing the people, without knowing the neighborhood dynamics, the city dynamics, any of that.

What has struck me as distinctive here is that World Vision comes in with the message that 'We want to empower local churches to do what they do best. We don't interface with people like local churches can.' I think that's an invaluable role. Thankfully, groups like World Vision have resources that a lot of local groups don't have access to.

I'm thinking specifically of a lot of the inner-city churches the store front churches which are understaffed with people who are underpaid, and to have a partner like World Vision come in and say, 'We recognize your legitimacy, we recognize your calling, we recognize the vital contribution you can make, we want to empower you to do it more effectively," that's good.

World Vision: So our World Vision donors can be sure that their gifts are being used by the local churches to do the things that need to be done?

Jeremy Del Rio: Absolutely. The intention of the World Vision staff here is to empower local churches to reach their communities and the people within their communities who have been affected by this tragedy. You see on the news the numbers of bond traders and well-financed people who didn't make it out of the building. There was an equally significant population of receptionists, mailroom employees, and secretaries that came from outer boroughs and didn't have the same life insurance policies and savings accounts.

To know that World Vision recognizes that and wants to assist those folks as well is great. Windows on the World was decimated. You have bus boys and waiters gone as well as the businessmen who were lost. Those lower-income communities have been devastated and World Vision is committed to supporting them.

World Vision: What have been your prayers?

Jeremy Del Rio: On Wednesday after the tragedy, I was there, [at Ground Zero] walking around, just praying. I was literally standing on top of the pile  on top of where the South tower used to be. I was gazing at all of those bucket brigades and the devastation, and my prayer was that, "buried in the rubble are the seeds of revival."

My whole life, people have been prophesying that the seeds of revival would begin in New York. As a New Yorker, I knew it would require a miracle because the church in New York has been too fragmented to be any kind of agent for God's movement on a wide scale. But I see this tragedy as being a catalyst to finally bring the church together so that there can be the required unity for God's spirit to move. We're seeing that happen.

I believe that buried in the rubble down at Ground Zero are the seeds of revival and we're going to experience something like the country has never seen before not just the devastation of the Trade Center, but the beautiful outpouring of God's spirit that's going to follow.

World Vision: Have you watched the answer to that prayer unfold?

Jeremy Del Rio: Yes. The birthing of the Ground Zero Clergy Task Force is evidence of that. Within 36 hours we called churches to pray. Within those 36 hours, 40-45 churches responded. It was beautiful, seeing the rainbow of colors from that platform. Knowing that these were denominations that usually don't do things together, show up to the same meetings, strategize in the same language--that's an answer to prayer. It's the first of many that we're going to experience.

World Vision: You are youth pastor at Abounding Grace Christian Center, your father, Richard Del Rio is the pastor. Tell us about Abounding Grace?

Jeremy Del Rio: The name of the ministry, Abounding Grace Ministries, comes from Romans 5:25. My dad took that literally. He went to the police and asked where the worst drug spots in New York City were. They pointed him to the Lower East Side. The first time he took our family with him, I was 8 ½, my brother was 3. We were at Union Square Park which you see now renovated and beautiful, but in the early 80s, it was a drug supermarket. The first time we went out, a drug deal went bad and a guy got stabbed. That was the initiation of our family into ministries. That's what I mean about being unconventional.

There aren't many guys who would bring their 3-year-old into that environment and when that happens  keep bringing them. Most people keep the kids at home. I think the reason why my parents' sons are in the ministry today is we weren't shielded but encouraged to be active participants. We are an inner-city church. We just don't have a lot of cash to do things.

World Vision: Why does your dad take pastors to Ground Zero?

Jeremy Del Rio: His conviction is that if you see it, your heart will break. He was there since an hour and a half after the first plane hit. His ministry has been forever changed. Pray for him. God will be give him grace, but we need to be there, to help lift up his arms when they get tired.