The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) is ministering in Mati, Greece, after wildfires raged through the resort town last week. Nearly 100 people in the seaside village and surrounding areas lost their lives due to the infernos, and many more are injured.
Chaplains sent from BGEA's U.S. and U.K. offices are offering emotional and spiritual care to those hurting.
News reports say the fire was likely caused by arsonists, and weather conditions combined with the village's few escape routes intensified the devastation.
"When you're talking to people, you see the sadness, you see anger, you see frustration ... and that's why we're here," said crisis-trained chaplain Chris Smith. "We're able to be with them."
Just 18 miles east of Athens, the resort town is nearby a melting pot of people from various countries.
"You think you're actually in a war zone," said one man in the midst of the charred landscape.
Despite devastation to her own home and neighborhood, Dionysia was quick to donate clothing to those who had less than she did and even offered drinks to the chaplains.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God." —2 Corinthians 1:4
A chaplain walks with two men through the smoldered ashes around a building. Across the world in Redding, California, more chaplains are serving in response to fatal wildfires.
"We want everyone to know no matter what the situation, we bring hope in the name of Jesus Christ," Smith said. Please continue to pray for all those affected by these fires.
