08079
February 1, 2008

Out of the ashes

Oregon church vows to minister on after fire destroys sanctuary

by Mike Ferguson
Presbyterian News Service 

Members of Community Presbyterian Church of Pilot Rock, OR, encircle the remains of their burned sanctuary at an “Out of the ashes” memorial service. Photo by Susan Barnes

PILOT ROCK, OR — For Kim Koeller, having Presbyterians from churches all over rural Eastern Oregon Presbytery journey to Pilot Rock Jan. 25 to help Community Presbyterian Church say goodbye to its burned-down sanctuary “felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”

The sanctuary of the Community Presbyterian Church in Pilot Rock, a community of 1,550 people 15 miles south of Pendleton, burned early in the morning of Sunday, Nov. 11. Koeller’s husband, Carl, was one of the volunteer firefighters who worked to save the sanctuary, which was built in 1912.

Kim Koeller was so distraught when Carl got the call that morning that she, too, had to jump in her car to see the awful sight for herself.

“I thought it must be the wrong address,” she recalled. “I drove to the church in my PJs, although the fire was so massive we could see the flames from our house. When I saw it, I knew the church was a loss. It was fully engulfed, and all they could do was keep it from spreading.”

The fire, caused when a rodent chewed through a vent and left materials behind to set the boiler ablaze, also claimed an adjacent house. No one was injured at either site.

The Jan. 25 service, called “Out of the Ashes,” allowed church members and representatives of Eastern Oregon and Boise presbyteries to hold hands in a semi-circle around what remained of the sanctuary — just a portion of its rock foundation and some wrought iron railing, which members plan to use when they begin rebuilding later this year.

The group offered prayers for the congregation and the residents of Pilot Rock. Then participants adjourned to the Pilot Rock Community Center, where they worshipped together and the visitors publicly pledged ways they would help the congregation rebuild One pastor said she’d preach free at Pilot Rock so that the church’s Commissioned Lay Pastor, Todd Bensel, could take a well-deserved Sunday off.

A nearby church held a fish fry for the Pilot Rock church, an event that raised $1,000. Other churches — Presbyterian as well as other denominations in and around Pilot Rock    promised their members would provide unskilled labor for rebuilding, or gardening help to beautify the grounds after the new sanctuary is constructed.

Bensel, who’s served the Pilot Rock church for five years, has been leading services since the week after the fire in the church’s 50-year-old Christian education building, which the fire spared. A preschool has operated almost uninterrupted after the fire.

The remains of the sanctuary of Community Presbyterian Church of Pilot Rock, OR, destroyed by a November fire. Photo by Susan Barnes

Bensel said that church members are eager to dispose of the burned masonry, a collapsed bell tower and charred hymnal pages that provide a constant reminder of the fire, work that will begin in February.

“They said our church was badly damaged” by the fire, Bensel said, showing visitors blackened evidence of the totality of the loss, “but we moved beyond damage to toast.”
Carol Elliott, the church’s former secretary, pianist and Sunday school teacher, laments the loss of all the church records destroyed in the fire.

“We sure had some wonderful memories of that old place,” she said. “But Todd has held it all together for us. He’s just super optimistic.”

“It is kind of tough to lose the home where you met Jesus,” said Vonnie Gambill, one of three generations of her family married in the church. “This has been my church home since I was four. I just feel very humbled by all the offers of help.”

The church was insured, Bensel said, so there’s no reason rebuilding can’t begin as soon as this spring.

But for the time being, Friday’s service offered the church’s 36 members and friends of the church closure and further assurances that help is readily available, Bensel said.

“I believe this was an important event in the life of the church,” said Debbie Sandborgh, program director of the Snake River Mission Area, which comprises the presbyteries of Eastern Oregon, Boise and Kendall. It was Sandborgh’s idea to organize Friday’s caravan of caring.

“Many Presbyterians see mission as something far away, but all we have to do is open our eyes to see the need around us,” she said. “We did nothing today but be with people and pray with them.”