One year after floods, Hill Country churches continue recovery 

One year after catastrophic flooding devastated the Texas Hill Country, Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville continues to serve as a hub for recovery, housing volunteers, supporting survivors, and walking alongside a community still healing from one of the deadliest natural disasters in Texas history. 

Pastor John Wheat said the church has hosted Texans on Mission volunteers for the past year, providing lodging, meals, and encouragement as rebuilding efforts continue. 

“They’ve been on our campus now for a year, bringing groups in and spending the night … in our Sunday school classrooms and having meals here in our gym,” he said.

July 4 marked one year since floodwaters along the Guadalupe River swept through the Texas Hill Country, killing 139 people statewide, including 119 in Kerr County. During the first 36 hours, emergency crews rescued more than 850 people. 

While much of the emergency response ended months ago, churches like Trinity Baptist have continued serving as centers of relief, recovery, and hope.

Still serving one year later 

Texans on Mission has provided cooking, shower, and rebuilding teams in partnership with Trinity Baptist Church since early July 2025, immediately after the disaster. After establishing a command center in the area, Texans on Mission volunteers began “mud-out” efforts, removing sheetrock from damaged homes, before beginning the rebuilding projects. 

“That’s been going on since probably July the sixth or seventh, and for us … over a year now. So, they’re still here. There’s a group here. … Some of them are from Ohio. So, our church has been hosting … groups coming in,” he continued. 

Robert Wheat, director of missions for Hill Country Baptist Association and brother of John Wheat, described other agencies and volunteer organizations involved in the relief effort.

“There were so many different agencies that were walking on top of each other trying to help people in those early days. … And [the] Texas Department of Emergency Management, they believe, with some funding [from] Red Cross, Texans on Mission [may] be here another year doing about 30 more homes,” he said.

Other organizations involved in recovery efforts include Samaritan’s Purse, which is leasing a building in Kerr County, and Mercy Chefs, a nonprofit disaster relief organization that deploys mobile kitchens to disaster areas. 

“[Mercy Chefs] started early on, just sending meals up the river to families that were affected,” he continued, noting the director of Mercy Chefs currently is looking for a location in Kerrville to provide permanent housing for volunteers. 

Churches became places of refuge

In response to a request from the Kerr County Sheriff’s Department, Trinity Baptist Church opened its doors to provide parents with a safe and supportive place to wait for updates about their children. Many families stayed at the church through Sunday, two days after the flood took place. A year later, the church still seeks to offer support to those in need. 

“We’ve just been trying to be in the forefront with regards to supporting our ministerial collaboration and trying to heal our community. We’ve had a night of prayer on July the third. … We’ve been trying to work within our faith-based community and trying to be alongside our people and recovery efforts,” John Wheat said. 

He anticipates Texans on Mission engaging in ministry in the area into 2027. Trinity Baptist Church continues to work alongside them, helping with housing needs and supporting church members involved in separate relief ministries. 

Helping their own recover

Two Trinity Baptist Church families lost their homes. 

“We walked alongside them, tried to help them. We got to help them financially get restarted. … One couple purchased another trailer, and they moved it further away from the river in another county, so they’re doing well,” John Wheat said. 

Another family at the church was able to rebuild their home that flooded. Texans on Mission worked alongside the church to help displaced families rebuild and relocate. 

“A lot of that was done with Texans on Mission, also,” he continued. So, [the church] didn’t supply that totally, but we got to help in several areas with our own church members that way. And that was probably the devastation that we suffered with our church membership. We didn’t have any loss of life from our church membership.” 

Hunt Baptist Church, a member of Hill Country Baptist Association, sustained about 3 feet of flooding in its lower basement. Within a week, members of a San Antonio church joined volunteers to remove and replace damaged drywall. The church later became a vital resource center for residents affected by the disaster.

“It looked like a Goodwill store inside. … It was completely full of clothes. Their hallway was full of rubber boots, paper goods, you know, all kinds of things. And [in] their fellowship hall, outside their sanctuary area, they had tables all lined up with food items,” Robert Wheat said.

As floodwaters receded, the churches’ work was only beginning, transforming sanctuaries and fellowship halls into places of refuge and restoration.

The greatest needs today 

John Wheat said the greatest needs now are supporting survivors and rebuilding homes.

“There are people who, right now, with the year anniversary, a lot of [memories have] come back. … When it rains here, people still wonder, you know, what’s going to take place. And there’s a lot of PTSD. You know, they tell us that everyone who is here that went through that all has it to some degree,” he said.

One of the best things the church can do right now is recognize people are hurting and stand alongside them, he continued. 

“And you know, not everybody that was in our community was affected in Kerrville, but there were a lot of people affected in Ingram and Hunt, which is very close to us. Just trying to be available, should there be a need we want to be ready to jump in and support,” he said.

Because of the flooding, the floodplain changed, forcing some families to rebuild elsewhere. 

“The other need is people trying to figure out what they can do, because they can’t rebuild where they are because the floodplain was changed [due to] the water level. So some people can’t rebuild where they were unless they build up … 6 feet or 12 feet. … Some are realizing it’s too expensive to do that, so they’re not building anymore, or they found another place to build,” he said. 

Hill Country Baptist Association is partnering with the Community Foundation and Texans on Mission to raise money for rebuilding efforts. The association has a donation button on the front page of its website. 

A continuing ministry 

Despite the devastation, John Wheat said the Holy Spirit guided the church as it ministered to those affected.

“Slowly but surely, the Lord helped us, and the Holy Spirit, for sure, put us in a position to comfort … and just sit with people. We didn’t have any words to share with them, but we could just be present, and we allowed them a place. So I think when the time comes, in an emergency situation, you do what you can,” he said. 

Disasters reveal the church’s calling—to faithfully steward God’s blessings, serve those in need, and remain present long after the crisis has passed, he added.

“We had been blessed, and it’s not for us to keep, it’s for us to realize, ‘What are we going to do with what God has given to us?’ And it’s almost like, when we don’t know the words to say, the Holy Spirit gives us the words to say.

“So, I don’t know that we’ve prepared for a disaster, but when the disaster strikes, I think we show up, and I think we [should be] available. And the good thing about the church is that we’re going to stay around.”