The Eastside Church of Christ in Colorado Springs, Colo., has launched a relief effort to help the hundreds of wildfire victims in that community, where flames destroyed nearly 350 homes.

Churches of Christ across the nation are cleaning up and offering aid after an outbreak of deadly storms across states including Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. The Branson Tri-Lakes News in Missouri reports on a group of volunteers that helped clean up the property of the Branson Church of Christ after a storm swept through the area.

In the midst of responding to one natural disaster, church members in the Philippines face a new one. I received an e-mail from Salvador Cariaga, a longtime Filipino missionary, about a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck his home country Feb. 6. Cariaga oversees a ministry that provides goats, farming techniques and micro-loans to Filipinos in need. The quake’s epicenter was in the central Negros Oriental province, where there is a large concentration of Churches of Christ

Volunteers from Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team are in Minot, N.D., helping church members clean up and repair flooded homes. While flood-stricken North Dakota has disappeared from the headlines, the community’s needs remain immense, said Daniel Kelly, minister of the Minot Church of Christ. The homes of six families in the 60-member congregation sustained flooding damages, Kelly said.

The Springfield Church of Christ in Vermont is helping flood victims in nearby towns after Hurricane Irene. Elder Ernest “Puggy” Lamphere said the 80-member church was pleased to receive a truckload of emergency food boxes, personal care kits and cleaning supplies from Nashville, Tenn.-based Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort.

The Bastrop Church of Christ is serving as an overflow emergency shelter amid ongoing Texas wildfires that have destroyed more than 1,000 homes across the rain-starved state. Church member Janice Hernandez said at least two families in the congregation have lost homes, and more than half of members have evacuated their neighborhoods.

In Minot, N.D., the Minot Church of Christ is doing its part to help residents after this summer’s devastating flooding. The church partnered with the Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort to help bring much-needed supplies into the area, an area television station reports.

JOPLIN, MO. – Less than three weeks after an EF-5 tornado cut a six-mile swath through this southwestern Missouri community, the 26th and Connecticut Church of Christ assembled inside its damaged building for the first time. On Wednesday night, amid boxes of relief supplies and trash bags full of donated clothes, about 65 men, women and children squeezed into salvaged pews arranged in a V-shape in the church foyer.

Massachusetts last week became the latest state victimized by the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950 — and the latest helped by Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort Inc.

After seeing news accounts of the devastating tornado that ripped through Joplin, the Park Plaza Church of Christ in Tulsa, Okla., issued a plea to its members — “Joplin needs us.” Since Monday, the church has been collecting bottled water for relief workers and displaced Missourians who lost their homes in the deadly storm. Since Monday, the church has been collecting bottled water for relief workers and displaced Missourians who lost their homes in the deadly storm.