Covenant News

Covenant Churches Escape Full Wrath of Hurricane

OVIEDO, FL (August 16, 2004) - Evangelical Covenant Churches in the path of Hurricane Charley were spared serious damage, reports Southeast Conference Supt. Kurt Miericke in an update to Covenant News Service this morning.

"All of the churches that I mentioned on the last update (Friday) are fine – the hurricane missed all of them," Miericke noted. Those six churches include Venice Isle Evangelical Covenant Church and Bay Indies Evangelical Covenant Church, both in Venice; Community Covenant-Spanish Lakes Church in Nokomis; the Evangelical Covenant Church of Tri-Par Estates in Sarasota; and Trailer Estates Covenant Church and Bayshore Covenant Church, both located in Bradenton.

That report was affirmed in a separate email message from Covenant missionary to Mexico Cindy Hoover. "I'm told that none of our Covenant churches were hit - the storm ended up further south than our group of churches that are part of the trailer park ministry," she said. Hoover will be in the southern Florida area for another two weeks.

However, there were tense moments for one well-known Covenant couple – Craig and Dotty Anderson - as they huddled in their home in Punta Gorda, considered by many experts to have been the hardest hit by the storm, which packed winds of 145 to 170-plus miles per hour as it moved ashore. Anderson is a former associate superintendent of the Central Conference and Dotty worked for many years in the Department of the Ordered Ministry. Miericke reports their home was not seriously damaged, although the general area was devastated by the storm.

Approximately one million people were without power in Central Florida, Miericke said – power to his home was restored Sunday evening. "The Audubon Park Covenant Church is alright, but there are trees down all over the neighborhood," he reported. Orlando had winds of more than 100 miles per hour, cutting power to homes and businesses. "There's a lack of food and people are trying to distribute ice," he continued. "Everybody's going to be alright here, but there was significant damage. We had a huge part of a pine tree just miss our house. It landed on my driveway and when I opened the door of our garage, there was the pine tree. And there were four different trees in our roads, so it was hard to drive out of our neighborhood. We had a neighbor who had power tools and cut the trees so we could drive out."

"Here at the new Covenant church in DeLand, everybody came through the storm well," reports pastor David Shaw. "At our house on the West side, we didn't even lose our power or cable television. We were very fortunate. Saturday we spent the day cutting down trees for a church family in Deltona who lost everything in their yard. The storm has given us some opportunities to serve others. Worship yesterday consisted of 35 people . . . the high school where we meet had been used as a shelter, so we had power and air conditioning for worship, unlike most churches"

Gasoline, ice and fast food are all difficult to find, Shaw reports. "If you don't have power, you can't keep food long, and you can't use power tools to begin to fix anything. When you see a convenience store that has power, you know it by the long line of cars trying to get into the parking lot and up to the gas pumps."

A conversation with pastor Dave Johnson in Venice revealed that area had plenty of rain and wind, but little damage, reports Bob Tenglin, chaplain at Covenant Village in the Fort Lauderdale area. "Orlando was hit rather hard," Tenglin added, noting that the Audubon church did not suffer any damage. "We have heard reports from people up north that they heard or think that all of Florida is affected - without electricity and with widespread damage," he continued. "Not true, but the path of Hurricane Charley (Fort Myers area to Orlando and Daytona) does have major damage and loss. There was concern of another hurricane – Earl - coming our way and perhaps on the same path as Charley, but reports this morning say that it will stay far south of the United States and move toward northern Mexico." Tenglin asked for prayer for the affected areas and encouraged people everywhere to consider sending support for relief efforts.

Covenanters interested in supporting hurricane relief efforts can send donations to Covenant World Relief (CWR) in care of the Evangelical Covenant Church, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625. Gifts should be earmarked for the Hurricane Relief Fund. "Covenant World Relief will respond to assist hurting individuals and affected congregations in Florida as appropriate," said CWR Director Jim Sundholm.

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