Church spared, houses destroyed, pastor preaches trust in Jesus

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE — Philip Makari isn’t sitting around today, but he’s waiting, nonetheless.

      While he’s making pastoral calls and helping coordinate salvage crews, he’s waiting to hear what the insurance adjustors will say and what the work crews will find at the 480-member Chapel by the Sea on Fort Myers Beach. The church building sits on a small island that was hit by Hurricane Charley before it moved inland.

      Oddly enough, the brick-and-concrete building fared better than Presbyterian churches just a few miles down the highway in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte that sustained demolition-like damage.

      But the Chapel by the Sea sanctuary didn’t fare well. The walls are standing. The roof is intact. But the interior of the sanctuary is ruined. The roof of the fellowship hall is full of leaks, so the damage inside is spotty.

      Chapel by the Sea’s business manager, Ann Wienstroer, describes the sanctuary like this: “ The big window, the dolphin window, was blown out. So, all the (rain)-water came in the front of the church, which overlooks the beach. Unfortunately, that’s the direction the storm took … and it brought everything in with it.

      “Water. Salt air. Humidity. Broken glass. But no flood damage.”

      The chapel — with its pitched metal roof — sits about six feet above sea level, which means it was spared the flooding that most of its members expected to find once they were allowed back on the beach five days after Charley hit.

      Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is estimating that at least 12 Presbyterian churches in four presbyteries sustained serious damage in the flooding and heavy winds that smashed into the Florida coast when Charley hit two weeks ago. Seven of those congregations, like Chapel by the Sea, are in Peace River Presbytery.

      U.S. disaster response coordinator for PDA Stan Hankins told the Presbyterian News Service that $80,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering has been sent to Peace River for relief work and for church repair.

      When folks were evacuated just before the sea water crested, water was climbing toward the church. Most assumed it would be saturated, or inundated, by the cresting ocean. Peace River Presbytery staff had heard early last week that the church’s insignia dolphin window was pulverized.

      Miraculously Chapel by the Sea got drenched but not swept away. It was open to the elements for five days, as the post-storm rains beat down on southwest Florida and the heat index climbed. The damage is extensive but not complete.

      “We have no estimates of the costs yet. For the windows, the walls, the carpeting. All of the carpeting is gone,” says Wienstroer. “There’s glass everywhere--even in the pew cushions. We just don’t know what we’re facing yet.”

      Today crews are at work ripping and tearing away what’s damaged, assessing the mold count and picking up shards of glass from the shattered beachfront window.

       It isn’t clear yet what damage the elements did to the sanctuary’s pipe organ or its public address system, the latter of which is full of water.

      Unlike the pastors of the two churches in Punta Gorda — First and Burnt Store — Makari was able to convene the session and the board of trustees of Chapel by the Sea shortly after the storm passed. So conversations took place about disaster response, even if the church’s leaders couldn’t get to their own beachfront sanctuary.

      Those who were able were offering shelter to less fortunate friends, including the Makaris.

      Makari’s home telephone service was restored within 24 hours of the storm and his electricity was off for only two days.

      Many families even in nearby Fort Myers Beach had to wait eight or nine days for the power to be restored.

      The congregation’s two pastors are available for crisis counseling. The Red Cross is using sections of the leaky fellowship hall to administer medical help. The church’s day program for homeless people is up and running, but outdoors in the church’s courtyard — which has been cleaned of debris — instead of inside, where the cleanup continues.

      In Fort Myers Beach they’re waiting. Waiting for insurance adjustors, most of whom are assessing the worst-hit first, in Punta Gorda and other calamity-stricken cities. Waiting for garbage trucks to come for the debris that is piled in the streets. Waiting for broken branches and glass littering the streets to be cleared so that driving a car doesn’t automatically entail getting a flat tire.

      Makari said the homes of at least six members of Chapel by the Sea are not livable and one man’s residence burned to the ground in a storm-related fire.

      About 150 folks turned up Aug. 22 for the congregation’s first worship since the storm hit, with Red Cross workers shuttling back and forth in the background. Huddled in two rooms in the fellowship hall, the congregation heard Makari preach from Psalm 90 and from Luke 8, a narrative about Jesus sleeping in a storm-tossed boat while the disciples panic.

      God in Christ was present with them on the Sea of Galilee, Makari said, ultimately calming the storm.

      “Often,” he told them, “the way our Lord calms storms is through the love and care that people offer in his name. How safe are we? Our safety is not in insurance coverage, in houses strong and beautiful, in storm windows and shutters, in fire and police and emergency departments, in city councils, or in presidents’ promises and provisions …

      “How safe are we? We are safe only in him and through him who is ‘our shelter in ages past, our hope for years to come, our guard while life shall last, and our eternal home.’”

      PDA has two disaster accounts for Hurricane Charley: #9-2000015 for U.S. Disaster Response; and #9-2000163 for church property damage. Donations may be made by mailing checks to: Presbyterian Church (USA), Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Gifts by credit card may be made by calling PresbyTel at 800-872-3283.