Shepherd’s Heart Ministry is a disaster response agency whose mission is “Sharing the love of Jesus Christ after natural disasters by offering free tree and debris removal.” The short answer of “Who are we?” is that we are a Lutheran Chainsaw Team.
For the past 21 years, the Director of Shepherd’s Heart, Pastor Ed Brashier (pronounced BrA-zure), has been serving as a pastor in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). Most recently he served as Associate Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Alabama.
Like many other disaster response agencies, Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst for our beginning. Seeing the catastrophic impact on thousands of people, his home congregation wondered, “What can we do?”
Remembering the words of Scripture in James 2: 15,16,
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”
In January of 2006, the members voted to send Pastor Ed as a deployed missionary to the Gulf Coast.
About the same time Pastor Ed was being deployed to Louisiana, Pastor Eric was already in the midst of Disaster Response as the pastor of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Biloxi, MS. However, this Pastor E had no prior training! Good Shepherd-Biloxi had unofficially begun accepting volunteers since the first week after Hurricane Katrina and by January of 2006, “Camp Biloxi” had officially been formed.
In November of 2008. Pastor Eric was called to Bethel Lutheran Church, Claremont, NC Together with Bethel's congregation, he has collaborated with numerous individuals from the Southeastern District of the LCMS to assist with local floods, tree damage, tornadoes, and hurricanes spanning from New Jersey to Florida to Oklahoma. Although “The 2 Pastor Es” knew of each other while on the Gulf Coast, it’s been during Pastor Eric’s tenure in NC that he and Pastor Ed have worked together dozens of times in many of the places mentioned above. In fact,
Pastor Ed was Pastor Eric’s first official chainsaw instructor. For the last few years, Pastor Eric has played a key role in the disaster response management team of the Southeastern District and has served as one of their Chainsaw Instructors. Through ongoing practical experience in Disaster Response and training sessions led by Pastor Ed and renowned instructor Tim Ard from Forest Applications Training, he has honed his skills in chainsaw leadership.
While he’s humbled to assume the role as the Interim Director of SHM, Pastor Eric is excited to see what the LORD of the Church has in store for this fantastic ministry of “sharing the love of Jesus Christ thru free tree and debris removal.”
