Helene Relief Phase 2: Rebuild Lives, Restore Hope

This March, what began as an annual staff retreat became something far deeper. For the first time ever, Adventures in Missions staff gathered not to pause, but to pour out.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, we launched Summit Serve—a weeklong missional experience to unite our leadership team with Adventures Relief in restoring the Swannanoa Valley.

This wasn’t just service—it was sacred return.

On the very first night, we made our way to a place many of us knew well: the Shepherd of the Hill camp, where six months ago a devastating landslide became the unlikely birthplace of our story in North Carolina.

The buildings now lie in ruins. But on that night, the ground became holy again.

With only a box drum, a guitar, and the voices of Excel College students, worship rose from the ashes. And as Alyssa, a former squad leader, shared her testimony, and Chris from Adventures Relief recounted the rescue, the sky seemed to hold its breath.

Thunderclouds threatened. But as we lifted praise, the rain didn’t fall.

Instead, light broke through.

We ended the evening with communion—no platforms, no microphones. Just staff and students gathered in raw reverence. It was a full-circle moment: the very land once marked by sorrow now became a setting for unity and sanctification.

This is who we are.

A people shaped by obedience.
A mission fueled by worship in the storm.
A family bonded by something far more eternal than role or region.

In that moment, it was clear:
We are not just better together—we are transformed together.

Let’s keep rebuilding. Let’s keep pressing in.
Because beauty rises from ashes, and He is still redeeming the rubble.

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