July 2017
Rev. Chris Navurskis and members at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hinckley, Illinois, are reaching out to aid farmers in South Dakota who are stressed by draught. News reports on July 20 stated that 82 percent of the state was in some stage of drought—44% at severe stage and 11% of the state extreme. All areas of the state are experiencing abnormally dry conditions.
Immanuel members, working with Pastor Navurskis, coordinated delivery of a semi-truckload of donated hay to farmers near Groton, east of Aberdeen, South Dakota, on July 13-14. They coordinated a second truckload that left Wisconsin a few days later and another from Illinois was delivered the following week.
Pastor Navurskis had served his student vicarage in the state when he was at the seminary so he has friends there. Plus his father-in-law is an LCMS pastor in Chamberlain, South Dakota. These connections are helping put him in touch with farmers whose livestock are at risk.
“I was able to make connections to local folks in South Dakota through the pastor who was my vicarage supervisor (I served in Rapid City), and his brother,” Pastor Navurskis said, adding, “My father-in-law is the LCMS pastor in Chamberlain and he has given me a few contacts as well. I know one of the pastors in Pierre, and I have reached out to him, too.”
He shares his story with the rest of the Northern Illinois District for one specific reason. “There is obviously a cost to getting wheels under these donations and transporting them over so many miles,” he said. “We have blessed, inspired, and generous folks behind this, but our congregation would be very interested in partnering with brothers and sisters to continue this outreach.”
Pastor Navurskis also is trying to make connections and garner partners from LCMS churches in Minnesota, which as he says, “is way closer.”
He added, “The goal is to get the hay to farmers who can share it with other families so that Christ’s ministry of mercy can be made known in the midst of the struggle.”
Pastor Navurskis is inviting anyone interested in financially helping with this effort, or who has contacts or ideas for further relief efforts and partnership in this, to contact him at 262-825-7501.