Lightning strikes St. John’s Lutheran Church in Capac

Extensive damage to structure; electrical issues

 

CAPAC — A line of severe weather, packed with thunderstorms and lightning, along with torrential rain, rumbled through the Tri-City Times coverage area once again last week.

For the past several weeks, the area has been inundated with heavy storms causing flooding in some areas, along with wind and most recently, lightning damage.

Wednesday, July 16, a heavy thunderstorm packed with downpours, wind and lightning, slammed the area, including St. John’s Lutheran church in the Village of Capac, causing damage to the structure. No injuries were reported but one vehicle parked in front of the church had damage to it’s windshield.

On Thursday, July 17, leaders reached out to their church family with a letter regarding the incident.

Below is a letter from Pastor Matt:

“Dear family and friends of St. John’s:

By now, many of you have likely heard that lightning struck our bell tower during yesterday’s storm. No one was injured and our building is secure.

Unless we hear otherwise, we will be able to proceed with Sunday worship and Vacation Bible School next week. We give thanks to God for the safety of our staff, guests, and parishioners!

Unfortunately, we have discovered a large amount of damage to our church building. Our main bell tower was hit by lightning in three places, once on one of the tower caps and twice on the west facade.

This sent a shower of bricks down on our roof, punching at least two golf ball sized holes into the metal.

Luckily, we have already scheduled our masonry repair project through Eric Klee.

When he begins work starting Monday, July 28th, he is aiming to include repairs to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, we will take steps to fill the holes in the roof until a longer term solution is possible.

When the lightning hit, it sent a power surge through the entire building. This means that aspects of our electrical equipment throughout the church were affected: we do not have phone or internet service in the office, our printer is out of order, we will be unable to livestream our Sunday Worship service through our new equipment, and both screens in the sanctuary appear to be affected as well.

We will be partnering with our tech contractor, Blue Water A/V, to assess the damage and figure out the pieces of equipment that will need to be replaced.

Meanwhile, I have contacted GuideOne (our insurance company) and have submitted a claim request. An adjuster will be out shortly to work with us.

I’m sure this news will be disappointing to all of you. It is a lot to take in, and means we will have a great deal of work to accomplish together. But we are a strong and gifted community, and God will be with us through every step.

Already, I am amazed with how people are coming together to take on this unexpected work. With God’s guidance, we will figure out everything we need to do to repair our church. All will be well.

There are a few additional matters to highlight:

•Until further notice, both entrances to the sanctuary off of Kempf Ct. will be closed. This is to protect our members and guests from falling debris. Please do not stand on the lawn or sidewalk directly below the bell tower, not even to view the damage.

•Please be mindful of where you park your car. If more bricks come loose in storms or wind, they may bounce off the roof onto your vehicle. Please consider parking in the main lot or down one of the side streets when you are visiting the church.

•If you need to contact the office, please do so via the church email. I am available by phone, text, or email as well.

Finally, please keep our staff and leaders (especially our council) in your prayers as we move forward.

We will provide further updates as we learn more. In Christ’s name,
Pastor Matt.”

In a Facebook note to one of the church’s parishioners, the pastor reported, “the organ is working normally! Kind of funny: some of the new stuff shorted out. But our 1930s organ’s singing away like normal!”

Another parishioner shared, “One century ago, something similar happened to the original church building….In the year 1879 on the 11th of July, at 10 o’clock in the morning the building was shaken by a massive earth tremor. The foundation shifted from the west to the east and was so shaken that the plaster broke apart and a piece fell down upon the altar.

Then on the 15th of July, 1880 a lightning flash from the hand of the Almighty God struck the building about 9:30. It destroyed the south east door and went through the roof and then through the stove to the flooring.

Nevertheless the gracious God caused the lightning to go to the exit and down the steps. So a fire was prevented.”

Further investigation in to the damage caused by the storm continued late last week.