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Spirits in Roseau Rise Higher Than the Flood Waters
Covenant News Service
ROSEAU, MN (June 18, 2002) - They sang "Deep and Wide" at the Evangelical
Covenant Church in Roseau Sunday, a lighthearted way for the church to
respond to floodwaters that have devastated this small northwestern
Minnesota community.
Rain began to shower Roseau on June 8 and increased steadily for two
straight days, leaving the town of 2,755 in liquid peril. The Roseau River
overflowed and the town flooded, halting business activity and damaging
countless homes and businesses
 throughout the area.
The accompanying photos show the exterior and a downstairs area of the Anne
Johnson home in Roseau. A Roseau contact said the family saved most of its
belongings by moving the items to higher areas in the house.
The rain subsided over the weekend, giving the town and local churches
pause to consider how God and their neighbors would help them cope with the
tragedy.
On Sunday, the Evangelical Covenant Church of Roseau began worship with the
song, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." Pastor Joe Elick gave his
congregation plenty of time to thank God for the way the community had
blessed them. "Deep and Wide" was sung as part of a bevy of choruses coming
near the end of the service.
"We had a great service Sunday," said Elick, who gave a devotion based on I
Corinthians 1:3-11. "I realized that in that text Paul was preaching about
being persecuted for preaching the gospel. But I talked about how God gives
us permission to talk about the most vulnerable moments of our lives. Paul
began talking about the hard times by praising God and I look at how the
outcome of hard times is praise. I told them to leave the flood with the
'P' word in mind."
It has not been easy for anyone in Roseau - even pastors aren't excluded
from suffering in this situation. Pastor Elick and his wife, Julie, have
been cleaning up the basement of their home for days. They are staying with
friends a few miles out of town. A handful of churches were closed due to
flooding. Elick invited townspeople to his church during the local radio
show broadcast last Friday and about 150 attended, a large turnout
considering that most of the city was evacuated.
As for the Elick home, "We just keeping hauling stuff out of our basement,"
said Julie. "We're exhausted."
The Roseau Times-Region reported that the town is heavily involved
in
cleanup efforts. The newspaper's printing press is located in Grand Forks,
North
Dakota, so the weekly newspaper could publish its Monday edition. However,
phone lines are down at the local newspaper office and at other places.
Emergency electrical plugs have been installed at most homes so that
residents can clean up the flood damage.
"It's a mess and everyone's trying to clean up," said one newspaper
spokesperson. "The flood levels are low and we can drive through the town
now. However, we've learned that there is a flood warning going on for
tonight and tomorrow."
Although the flooding in Roseau has made all of the national media reports,
21 people from the Evangelical Covenant Church of Roseau cannot fully
comprehend just how bad things are. The church's youth pastor, Bruce
Helgeson, was in Jamaica last week with a team of 20 others doing mission
work. He and others will come home to residences that may require complete
gutting in some cases.
Last Friday, President George Bush declared 13 northwestern Minnesota
counties, including the flood-ravaged Roseau area, a federal disaster area.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is now authorized to provide
"expedited" assistance to the area. The local Salvation Army has been a
godsend in providing food and a Roseau Assembly of God congregation has
been used in food preparation and parking many cars belonging to residents.
Officials said half of Roseau's residents fled to temporary shelters or
stayed with nearby relatives during this week's record flooding. About 25
people stayed at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Roseau for a time and
three campers were parked in the church lot, according to Elick.
Dikes were successful in protecting the city's school, hospital and its
largest employer, the Polaris Industries snowmobile and ATV plant. Heavy
rain filled the Roseau River to a level of 23 feet, more than two feet
higher than its previous high mark.
Flooding had implications for those attending both the Evangelical Covenant
Church and Bethel Mission Covenant Church. As at Elick's church, Bethel's
building didn't suffer water damage. It is located outside of the town,
located 10 miles south of the Canadian border in the northwest part of the
state.
Elick has been encouraged by the number of Covenant churches interested in
helping the town. Polaris has enlisted resources to help townspeople clean
up the homes in Roseau and the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical
Covenant Church is planning on
helping Roseau Covenant churches in the future. Right now, however, the
town is still in the process of assessing damage before coming up with a
game plan that best helps the community.
Bethel Mission Covenant Pastor Bill Fisher said his congregation has
experienced much damage in their homes. "We have one family that has lost
everything - water is all the way up to their kitchen windows and they lost
all of their belongings," Fisher said. "With another family, a lady had
water come into her basement and several feet of water tipped
over the refrigerator and freezer.
"One office manager at a local dental office found out she lost a job
because they can't re-open the dentist office," Fisher continued. "There's
no way to rescue the building. And it's yet to be determined who else will
be out of work because of the contamination. Some work in grocery stores
that have been closed for a week."
Sunday worship at Bethel Mission Covenant was important for Fisher and a
congregation trying to pitch in to help those in need. "We know that
everyone's got to go on and we need to look to the Lord for His miracles.
We talked about how we could help one another and we met after church to
discuss how to specifically help those in need."
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