Many organizations experience crises at some point in their existence. Some are slow-moving and allow organizational leaders to anticipate and prepare for them, while others are more sudden, such as natural disasters or tragedies, and threaten the organization's people, property, results, and reputation. Leading change during such crises requires effective change leadership actions that produce a desired result while minimizing the negative impact on a community. This qualitative autoethnography explored the specific thoughts, feelings, and actions of a school principal after a deadly natural gas explosion destroyed the school's campus. With no building, furniture, or classroom materials, the leadership team and external partners located an office park building, transformed it to meet the needs of a high school program, and opened its doors to the first day of school just 35 days after the explosion. Using Kotter's Eight Stages for Leading Change as a theoretical framework, findings highlight a number of important lessons learned, including building a team with the right people at the right time, communicating frequently and with transparency, removing bureaucracy and other obstacles to success, and creating a vision that provides both clarity and hope. Specific attention is given to the role of emotion and stakeholder needs that emerged during the crisis and how the school's culture of faith, excellence, and care influenced leadership and this complex change process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]