NORTH CAROLINA (MODR) – It’s been nearly a year and a half since Hurricane Helene ripped John and Lisa Grinstead’s home from its foundation and carried it down the flooded Cane River. Today, a totally new home built in the same location by hundreds of Baptist volunteers is within days of being ready to move into.
According to Mike Hibbard, who, with the help of his wife, Brenda, has served as liaison for the project, the project has been ongoing since August 18, 2025. Designed as partial earth contact home, similar to what they had before, the new residence features 1,100 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a walk-out basement.
Hibbard notes that while much of the work has been done by Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief teams, the project has been a joint effort among various groups, including a volunteer group from Ohio that built the front wall and another group that had already rebuilt the basement, laid the floor joists and put down a subfloor.
Perhaps Sheila Gatlin, who is a chaplain with Clay-Platte Association Disaster Relief wrote the best tribute to the teams, which she titled “Leaving … Help, Hope and Healing”. Clay-Platte volunteers, including Sheila’s husband, Roger, have made several trips to Burnsville and spent numerous hours working on the house.
“They came with tool belts and work gloves, but they left with more than sawdust on their boots,” she penned. “A Disaster Relief team stood where floodwaters once raged, pressing handprints into fresh lumber and footprints into the soil of new beginnings.
“The couple’s home had been torn away and carried down the river by the relentless rains of Hurricane Helene. What remained was loss, shock and empty ground. Into that space stepped volunteers who chose compassion over comfort and service over safety. Each measured board, each driven nail, and each muddy footprint became a quiet declaration: you are not forgotten.
“Their hands shaped walls, but they also carried prayers. Their footprints marked the foundation, but they also traced a path toward hope. Long after the house stands finished, those unseen handprints and footprints will remain—woven into the walls as a testimony of love, faith, and the promise that even after devastation, restoration is possible … the hands and feet of Jesus!”
However, the Grinstead’s home isn’t the only one being rebuilt or restored in and around Burnsville, North Carolina. Plus, MODR teams aren’t the only Baptist church members assisting in the area. As an example, First Baptist Church in Lamar had a crew of 19 people assist with repairs and restoration in the Burnsville area last June. Similarly, the First Baptist Church in Cameron had a group of 10 volunteer in North Carolina in February 2025. And there have obviously been others that weren’t part of an MODR team.
“We were divided into three different groups on that trip,” explained Terry Beasley, senior pastor at First Baptist in Cameron and Mission Team leader for the Heartland Baptist Association. “One group worked on reflooring a home, another helped work on a mobile home and another helped clean up flood damage.”
Ironically, Beasley planned to lead another group of 14 volunteers from his church and the association to Burnsville the first week of February this year. Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled due to the heavy snowfall that inundated North Carolina — another blow to the area that is still recovering.
“We were planning to help finish the Grinstead’s home,” he related. “But hopefully it will be finished by the time we can reschedule. So, if we end up going yet this spring or summer, we’ll see where else we’re needed.”
Because the current disaster relief projects involve rebuilding instead of skills like chainsaw work or flood recovery, team members do not need to be trained in disaster relief to participate under the direction of any MODR teams or North Carolina’s Baptists on a Mission.
Consequently, Aaron Werner, Missouri Baptist Collegiate Disaster Relief coordinator, notes that students from Northwest Missouri State University and Southwest Baptist University are already planning on going to Burnsville to help with rebuilds during spring break.
In the meantime, Werner is working to recruit college students who want to make a difference this summer by joining the Missouri Baptist Collegiate Internship program. While the summer interns may themselves serve some time in Burnsville, they will also have the opportunity to transform lives through the gospel by bringing help, hope and healing wherever there’s a disaster. To apply for an internship, go to https://modr.org/internships.
Whether the volunteers have come from MODR teams and districts; through Missouri Baptist churches or college student organizations willing to sacrifice their spring or summer vacation, every volunteer hour has made a difference.
“Missouri Baptists have been the best,” said Mike Hibbard. “They’ve donated hundreds of hours of labor with some of them making four to five trips to North Carolina. I know that I and the Grinsteads can’t thank them enough.”
To donate to Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief or to help support hurricane relief, go to modr.org/give or mail your donation to: Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, 400 E. High St., Jefferson City, MO 65101.
