Covenant News - Churches Brace for Sunday Blast from Frances

Covenant News

Churches Brace for Sunday Blast from Frances

ORLANDO, FL (September 3, 2004) - Evangelical Covenant Churches in the path of Hurricane Frances have completed preparations to the extent possible and, like others along the eastern coast, now await the arrival of a storm that now is expected to hit Orlando around 8 a.m. Sunday, reports Southeast Conference Supt. Kurt Miericke in a special report to Covenant News Service.

Frances was centered about 200 miles east-southeast of Florida's lower east coast at 2 p.m. (ET) today, according to the National Hurricane Center, moving toward the west-northwest at about 9 mph. Although the intensity of the winds have diminished from 145 to 115 mph, forecasters still consider it "a dangerous hurricane" and said it could rebuild intensity before reaching land in about 36 hours. Hurricane-force winds extend 85 miles from the center of the storm and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles, making the overall storm pattern the size of Texas and twice the size of Hurricane Charley three weeks ago.

"The Covenant churches most affected would be starting South to North on the east coast of Florida," Miericke said, and include the following:

Lighthouse Covenant, which is just north of Plantation and northwest of Ft. Lauderdale (David Anderson is the pastor)
Hope Community Covenant Church in Boynton Beach - they do not have a building, but meet in a middle school (Jim Black in the pastor)
Royal Palm Covenant Church, located directly inland from West Palm Beach (Mike Rose is the Pastor). "I just talked with him and he is trying to get things set at the property - they have a very nice building," Miericke reports.
First Covenant Church in Vero Beach – "the church in the most harms way," the superintendent notes (Tristan Hohler is the pastor). "They are only a few miles from the coast. When I called Thursday, they all had evacuated to Tampa.
Audubon Park Covenant Church near downtown Orlando (Kevin Brintnall is the pastor).
First Covenant Church in Winter Park (Tom Chanter is the pastor). "Both have nice church facilities."
Southeast Conference office (northeast of Orlando) and a small Covenant church that meets in a rented facility called New Hope Covenant church (John Fox is the pastor).
Covenant Community Church in Deland (new church plant), which is 20 miles north of Orlando (Dave Shaw is the pastor). They meet in a high school.
Asbury Covenant Church in Tavares, which is northwest of Orlando about 40 miles (Don Logue is the interim pastor).

Covenant Village, located just west of Ft. Lauderdale in Plantation, is prepared and ready, Miericke notes. "I think the hurricane is projected to miss them and go further north." The retirement facility includes about 400 residents and is about 25 miles from Miami. "We're just starting to get the squalls coming through," said chaplain Sally Gill Friday afternoon. "They're very much like the tropical rains that everyone is accustomed to and it's like a pre-tornado you'd see in the Midwest - but colors don't change in the sky. Right now, residents are on the campus and generally going through their routines, while staff is running around in their work clothes bringing in patio furniture and putting in hurricane shutters.

"I've had residents that have been here 13-14 years and they've never seen the shutters closed before," Gill continued. "Staff has had cold meals distributed and water has been delivered in case they have to stay in their rooms. We'll have maintenance and security and we're on call and have repeatedly been updated." Gill has been especially busy these days because her chaplain colleague Bob Tenglin was on vacation. "He came out of the Canadian woods and didn't have a clue (about the hurricane)," Gill said. "His wife Judy works down here, but Bob's not going to be able to get down here because the airports were closed at 10 a.m."

"Almost all the stores and businesses are closed now and we are just starting to get a little rain," Miericke reports. "We have really another whole day before we really get into it. My neighbors on both sides of me have evacuated. Thanks for your concern. We don't know what this will bring. The password on the street that people are using is "be safe."

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