Above the Flood: Servant Leadership Award Recipient Chris Singer

Rev. Chris Singer ’91, MA ’03, is the recipient of the 2018 Servant Leadership Award, which he will receive at Concordia’s annual Gala of Stars in April 2018.

Chris spent 18 years on staff at St. 约翰的路德教会，然后搬到休斯顿西北部, Texas, 三年前成为三一克莱因路德教会的主任牧师, a church of 3,600 or so people. His wife, Jeanette ’92, is the children’s minister.

They never expected Hurricane Harvey to flood their home, or for the church to be featured nationwide on NBC News.

“我们以为最坏的情况就是我们会失去电力，”克里斯说. “We had a generator and stocked up on food. We were ready to ride the storm out.”

By the second day we had 300 volunteers.

But things didn’t go as planned.

星期六晚上，歌手和朋友们在街上吃晚饭. Rain was coming down, but nothing unusual. 克里斯计划周日一大早开车去教堂，然后发一个视频消息，宣布他们已经取消了礼拜活动, just to keep everybody home safe.

But at 5 a.m.当克里斯醒来时，水已经淹没了人行道和草坪.

“我叫醒了我的妻子，对她说，‘我们得离开这里，’”他回忆道. 但是街上的水太深了，无法把他们的新福特探险者赶走. 他和儿子们疯狂地试图用沙袋、塑料和胶带堵住门. Still, “the water just kept coming” up the driveway, Chris says.

They began moving furniture quickly upstairs. Twenty minutes into that process, Jeanette called from the first-floor bedroom: “Chris, it’s coming in through the floor!“当他们从后门逃出时，房子里的水已经齐腰深了. In the street it was chest deep. The Singers, with their two boys, 涉水走了两个街区，被开着卡车来到水边的会众救出.

他们头昏眼花地来到教堂，“相当震惊，”克里斯说. “我们不知道我们要去哪里，也不想把别人赶出去.”

Finally, friends insisted they come home with them. 第二天早上，洪水上涨，困住了教堂里的许多人.

“我们和其他五个家庭开始祈祷，并决定做点什么，”克里斯说. “Before you knew it, we had mobilized search and rescue teams using social media, phones and texts to reach different member families. 当我们发现哪些地区受到袭击时，我们就把目标对准我们知道在那个地区的家庭.”

我们在康考迪亚大学所拥有的领导、尝试和学习的机会对我们今天所做的事情很重要，也让我们度过了这样的难关.

来自教堂的家庭自愿提供船只、卡车、外套等.

“They would drive their truck as far as they could, then jump on jet skis and boats and move into neighborhoods,” Chris says.

They pulled out around thirty families, 我只是想让他们在教堂里暂住几个小时等家人来接他们. 然后，治安部门和消防部门打来电话寻求帮助，因为避难所很快就满了.

By Monday afternoon, 一排车开进了三一学院的停车场，往下送毛巾, blankets, pillows and food. 教堂的健身房为那些过夜的人准备了帆布床、枕头和毯子.

“到第二天，我们有300名志愿者，他们非常棒，因为事情每小时都在变化,” Chris says.

As for his own house, 一个曾经在那里的人滑着喷气式飞机滑到那里，却没有意识到他已经越过了一个6英尺高的浸入水中的木栅栏.

在接下来的日子里，随着洪水的退去，到处都是破坏. The Singers lost couches, a piano, desks, bedroom furniture, clothing left in dressers, fridge, washer, dryer, oven and more. The process of mucking out and ripping out began.

“At St. John’s I had led several teams to help after Katrina, so I kind of knew how this stuff was supposed to go,” Chris says. “但当我走进自己的家时，我感到最麻痹. 你试着对你生活的每一部分做出决定——你收集和珍惜的东西, mementoes. Every detail was just overwhelming.”

难道非得要经历一场飓风才能让我们去做我们早就该做的事吗?

他自己教会的人来帮忙，但克里斯感到措手不及. 他说:“我试着打开领导的话题，说，这就是我们要做的. “最后，我看着我们教堂的一位女士说，‘我不知道该怎么办.’ She said, ‘Pastor, go outside. I’ve got this.”

A team cleaned up and ripped out the drywall and carpets. 三一学院开始与塞勒姆路德教会合作，协调当地的努力.

“It’s one of the beautiful parts of this story,” Chris says. “It was just great. We mucked out over 200 homes, then settled on fifty that would have the biggest struggle, with the goal to get them back in homes.”

While mucking out, 喷洒漂白剂，待其干燥后再进行抗菌处理, 克里斯收到了一封来自NBC新闻制片人的电子邮件，询问教会在做什么. That led Al Roker, NBC’s weatherman, 选择三一克莱因作为他2017年重点关注的三个慈善机构之一. 他是来和歌手们一起拍摄一个片段的，还带了10万美元作为支持.

“That was a huge blessing,” Chris says. “阿尔·洛克看着我们说，‘我真不敢相信你们在做什么. 事实是你自己的房子被摧毁了——我们需要世界上更多的人在别人挣扎的时候帮助他们.'”

这笔钱现在雇佣了修理受损房屋的屋顶工人、水管工和电工. 志愿者们，包括来自当地学校的奥兰治路德高中和圣. 约翰的路德会教徒，都从全国各地来提供劳力. 路德会赈灾会带来了两拖车发电机, vests and supplies for volunteers.

“珍妮特和我发现自己有时会说，我们为飓风所经历的一切感到非常难过, 但下一刻又说我们非常感谢飓风,” Chris says. “That’s probably the best way to put it. One of the phrases is, “难道非得要经历一场飓风才能让我们做我们一直以来都应该做的事情吗??'”

At Concordia University Irvine, Jeanette played volleyball; Chris played soccer and was chapel coordinator.

“康考迪亚给了我很多机会去思考职业和服事上帝, 并梦想我们如何运用这些伟大的真理以不同的方式成为一种祝福,” Chris says. “我们在康考迪亚大学所拥有的领导、尝试和学习的机会对我们今天所做的事情很重要，也让我们度过了这样的局面.”