PARKERSBURG - A shared name, common faith and a natural disaster connect two Baptist congregations.

News reports about an EF5 tornado that devastated communities May 25 reached members of a congregation four states away. One town in particular caught their attention.

"Never knew there was a Parkersburg, Iowa," said Mark Houser, pastor of Lubeck Community Baptist Church.

To Houser, Parkersburg is a nearby town in West Virginia.

His congregation was working on plans to provide hurricane relief in Mississippi. When the mission trip fell through, church members decided to reach out to Parkersburg, Iowa.

Saturday night a crew of about 30 volunteers rolled into Butler County for a weeklong service project. They will spend most of their time assisting Calvary Baptist Church because its parsonage was damaged severely by the storm.

"Everything just fell into place," said Woody Miller, a member of the Lubeck congregation. "It was meant to be."

This week, the crew from West Virginia helped put up walls and added a roof in the pastor's home. Other out-of-state volunteers are already lined up to help finish the job.

Members of Lubeck Community Baptist are also picking up debris and are putting on vacation Bible school at Calvary Baptist for kids in the community.

Ryan Zurbriggen, pastor at Calvary since February, is grateful for all of the West Virginians' efforts.

"Tangibly, they relieve a big burden," Zurbriggen said. "We could have done it, but it's always awesome to have help."

The parsonage was home for Zurbriggen; his wife, Renessa; and their three children, Caleb, 4; Micah, 2; and Hope, 6 months.

The Parkersburg church is Zurbriggen's first post. The 32-year-old Clermont native recently finished seminary in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Calvary attracts about 65 people each Sunday, and the pastor says they are weathering individual and collective losses together.

One member of Calvary, Ray Meyocks, died after suffering a heart attack immediately following the tornado. About 10 families lost homes, Zurbriggen said, and many others have family or friends affected.

Then came the floods.

"It was one thing after another for two or three weeks," Zurbriggen said.

Members of Aplington Baptist Church also stepped up. They are helping with leadership as Calvary recovers, Zurbriggen said.

Though he believes his congregants are doing well, fatigue is present, he added. Volunteers from West Virginia, meanwhile, say they are glad to help. And they treasure relationships with new friends in Parkersburg, Iowa.

Teens and adults from Lubeck Community Baptist hold regular devotional sessions for their team at the church and Calvary church members are invited to join in, volunteer John Dixon said. Calvary also brings in residents from Parkersburg to talk about their experience.

Vacation Bible school leaders hope the week's lessons help kids rely on God after the storm. The curriculum, which includes lessons about overcoming fear and helping others, seems timely, volunteer Kristi Miller said.

In town, residents frequently want to share their stories with volunteer Bill Packard. Packard, a retired assistant city engineer for Parkersburg, W. Va., is working on the parsonage.

"You start any conversation and within two minutes it's going to turn into the tornado," he said.

"These people are hurting real bad emotionally."

Packard has his own reasons for making the trip to Iowa. His wife died four days after the tornado hit Northeast Iowa. He said working on the parsonage helps keep him busy.

"I decided if I was in the Lord's house doing the Lord's work … I'd be as close to her as I could be," Packard said.

Everyone of the volunteers has a reason and a story for serving, he added, but what's really important is the shared mission.

"This is not about any one of us. This is about God."

T-shirts remind volunteers of their focus and purpose, illustrating two states separated by distance but united by a cross.

Dillon Gibson, 10, of Parkersburg, Iowa, and Andy Smith, 10, of Aplington, attended vacation Bible school this week. They are impressed strangers from West Virginia would take time to teach kids about Jesus.

"It's, like, truly amazing how people from so far away would actually come to help us," Gibson said.

The West Virginians plan to head for home Saturday morning. But Houser, Packard and others are convinced this first act of service is only the beginning. Some Iowa residents are already talking about visiting Lubeck, Packard said.

"We are connected now," he said. "Our lives will be changed forever because we know these people."

Contact Karen Heinselman at (319) 291-1581 or karen.heinselman@wcfcourier.com.