Church finds itself in the center of flood recovery

Word Ministries in Eunice is, perhaps, a church in the right place and at the right time.
On Monday, the former Walmart building that is home to Word Ministries, was selected as the site of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Recovery Center.
The Rev. Caleb Semien and his congregation first responded to the Aug. 13 flooding by opening their doors to shelter flood victims. The church also became site for relief supplies from food, cleaning supplies to hygiene products.
“We transform,” Simien said. “As the needs shift, we shift with it. We started out with towels, blankets, pillows, cots to house people and preparing hot meals to transforming into a distribution center as people started to move out.”
Word Ministries earned the praise of city leaders as it responded to help area residents cope with the flooding.
Semien estimates up to 400 families received assistance at the church.
There are about 500 people in the congregation and about 40 have been actively involved with the flood response.
“We put out a call during service for a washer and dryer and right after the service somebody delivered us a brand new washer and dryer from the congregation,” he said.
A call was put out for two showers, he said. One shower has been installed and the church awaits another.
Semien said FEMA is not paying to use the building, but money issues seem to disappear for the church, which celebrates its ninth anniversary in September.
Word Ministries has been in the old Walmart building for five years, Semien said.
The church started in a house, but Semien remembers looking at the closed Walmart.
“This thought came to me and it was loud. I’m going to give you that. That is where the church is going to be. I remember looking over to my wife and saying, ‘Baby, God let me know this going to be the church.’ She said, ‘Where do we start now?’”
The church started with five people and brought in state and parish inmates and people from shelters in a 360 mile weekly journey.
The price on the Walmart building was $1.5 million, he said.
Semien put in a bid at $300,000. “We didn’t have any money at all.”
But he dropped the bid eventually to $150,000, he said.
And, he explained where his church had come from and where it was going.
The owner of the building agreed to sell it to the church for $150,000, he said.
Semien said he had the keys to the building, but cried. “The light bill was $7,000 per month. God, how in the world am I going to do this?”
The church sold the former garden center and used that money to pay off its note, he said.
Five years after locating in the former Walmart, the church is the focus of a flood recovery for Eunice and the area.
“We gave the city keys to this place.”
He added, “I don’t know how many people have a key to this place. We handed it out so much.”