wfn.org | Tornado-stricken church returns to new sanctuary

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 11, 2002	News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{405}

By Erik Alsgaard*

LA PLATA, Md. (UMNS) - With window banners depicting butterflies, and bright
sunshine streaming throughout, members and friends of La Plata United
Methodist Church gathered for worship Sept. 8 in their own sanctuary for the
first time since the tornado of April 28.

"It's a wonderful day to be here," said the Rev. Edward Voorhaar, La Plata's
pastor, at the beginning of the packed service. "This is an important
occasion in the life of our church."

Five people in this southern Maryland community died as a result of the
storm. The differences between April and September couldn't have been more
striking.

Last April, the tornado destroyed the church's education building, damaged
the sanctuary roof and toppled the signature steeple. Dirt, broken glass and
debris filled the sanctuary. In the last four months, volunteer church
members have spent hours scrubbing walls, cleaning pews, wiping down hymnals
and doing whatever they could to help. 

On this day, smiles and hugs were shared in abundance as people welcomed one
another home.

"We're back home," said Gary Davis, chairman of the staff pastor relations
committee. "When you're not in your home, you feel lost, you feel
uncomfortable. Here, we feel comfortable again."

"I've never seen the walls of the church so white," said Lillie Durney after
worship. She and her husband, Tom, were members of the church but now live
in Frostburg, Md. "And the windows," she said, "how clean they were!"

Voorhaar and Davis agreed that Sept. 8 was only the beginning of the long
road to recovery for the church and the community. Replacing the steeple is
the next phase of the rebuilding project.

For the children's sermon, Voorhaar used a pillow he had brought from home
as he talked about being out of town and sleeping in a bed other than his
own. He said the time away from the sanctuary was like that. "We worshipped
in the high school for a while," he said, "and that was nice; God was there.
But there's something about coming here that's more comfortable."

Seventy-one churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference made donations
to the church, totaling just more than $49,000, Voorhaar said. Approximately
$15,000 has come in from individuals and local businesses. 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has provided money for La Plata
Church to hire temporary staff to assist in the recovery. The Rev. George
Anderson, retired, has been working since June 1; Bill Fallin was recently
hired as coordinator of the community recovery team. 

Voorhaar shared a vision during the worship service of the ministry for the
church and the community. "We are going to recruit and train volunteers," he
said, "and organize a community recovery team that will implement programs
to help families and victims of the tornado. We will focus on the spiritual
and emotional needs of these people."

The church also will create an ecumenical committee to meet the community's
emotional and spiritual needs, he said. 

After worship, Voorhaar was interviewed by a film crew from the PBS show
"Nova," shooting a documentary for March 2004 on tornadoes and early
detection systems. "This building is important," he said, "and I think the
congregation and community kind of took it for granted. The tornado came
through, and it wasn't there. This experience can make us better; it can
teach us that we really need other people."

The pastor, standing in the middle of the now vacant church, said people are
never the same after a tornado. He compared the aftermath to the death of a
loved one, and noted that healing "is a process, not an event. With God's
help, we can get through this. We become better tomorrow than we are today."

# # #

*Alsgaard is managing editor of UMConnection, the newspaper of the
Baltimore-Washington Conference.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org