This is a recording of a Hurricane Preparedness Webinar and Table Top exercise that the Synod hosted on July 11, 2024, just four days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the coast of Texas. Earlier this year, many forecasters predicted that this years’ Atlantic hurricane season will be more active than usual, with as many as 25 named storms to form from now through November. And as we have just witnessed, Hurricane Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm on record. In addition to the heavy damage caused across the Caribbean islands, Venezuela, and Mexico; Hurricane Beryl impacted at least a dozen states in the U.S. with tornadoes, wind damage, flooding, and of course, the power outages affecting millions of residents during what is already an extremely hot summer.

We hope this webinar and the conversation shared between those who attended this event will give you the resources, courage, and support you need to make a disaster plan for yourself, your family, your congregation and your community today. Our hope for this hurricane season is for us to not be overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty, but rather that we might be grounded in the gifts of our faith and set free to serve in this shared ministry together, because the truth is: you are not alone. My prayer is for this conversation to help you find inspiration, community and connection in the Sun.