Churches in the wake of hurricane Michael liken it to being “hit by a bomb.”
Hurricane Michael damaged at least 50 Southern Baptist church buildings in Florida and Georgia, according to initial estimates, with some virtually destroyed.
But that hasn’t stopped the congregations from doing the work of ministry.
Dwight Woods, the pastor of Family of God Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida, said “Some of the deacons are doing some reconnaissance for us, trying to find out some of the needs” in the community in order to initiate ministries, despite major damage to both of the 200-member church’s campuses.
At Family of God’s west campus, the fellowship hall collapsed and 30 feet of the sanctuary roof was ripped off the building. The church’s east campus saw half of the roof torn off and module buildings damaged.
At least six people died when Michael made landfall along the Florida Panhandle Oct. 10 as a Category 4 hurricane and worked its way into Georgia and the Carolinas. Some 1.5 million homes and businesses in the Southeast were without power as of Oct. 11.
Many pastors and churches along the Gulf Coast still cannot be contacted because of cellphone and internet outages. Michael filled some churches with water, ripped roofs off others and caused multiple church buildings to collapse.
Woods said, “It’s like being hit by a bomb, and your life is just disrupted, turned upside down, and you begin to try to put the pieces back together.”