Huntingburg Church finds forgiveness despite loss

When Pastor Bill Longanecker and two parishioners of the River of Life Church in Huntingburg discovered the damages to their little church on Fourth Street they immediately started praying. They didn’t pray the culprits would be caught or justice be done; they prayed that God would forgive those who had broken into the church and destroyed their sanctuary.

What the pastor and his flock found when they came into the church on May 30 was a white powder spread throughout most of the small building. A broken window in the children’s area belayed where the entry was first made.

“I thought, ‘What in the world?’,” Pastor Bill said, “I thought the furnace had blown up.”

The group explored the church and found a spent fire extinguisher in the sanctuary and realized the air conditioners where running on high. “They sprayed our sanctuary, our baby grand piano, our drums, our guitars, the sound booth, everything,” Pastor Bill said. “And from there, they just sprayed everything until it ran out. Then someone turned on the fan full blast and it just circulated all the stuff from the fire extinguisher through the vents throughout the church.

The sanctuary and Pastor Bill’s office look like bottles of baby powder exploded. Unfortunately the residue from the fire extinguishers is caustic to electronics and it has spread throughout the vents and ducts in the church. The church probably won’t be able to salvage any of their musical instruments. They are talking with experts to find out if they can save the baby grand piano. “I won’t give you an exact figure on the damages,” Pastor Bill said, “but it is in the thousands.”

He preached forgiveness to his small congregation as they gathered at Huntingburg Park this past Sunday, their church too damaged to be used. The congregation is forgiving and praying that God’s glory and good for the church be realized through this endeavor.

Service won’t be held at the church for several weeks so in the meantime prayer groups are meeting at parishioners’ homes for intercessory prayer and the nearby Iglesia Cristiana Nueva Visíon (New Vision Christian Church) is helping with the youth groups. The church found a temporary home at the  Seventh Day Adventist Church off of U.S. 231 south of Huntingburg. “They meet on Saturday so we won’t be disturbing their services.” Pastor Bill said.

The small congregation is muscling on; volunteers are cleaning up what they can and professional services will have to clean the ducts and replace the HVAC system of the building.

The police have little or no clues, any fingerprints or evidence were destroyed by the residue that coats the entire church. They are waiting on a list of missing items to see if that leads to anything. Pastor Bill doesn’t know what all is missing yet, they have been busy cleaning and taking pictures for the insurance company, but he says his watch is gone.

Pastor Bill and his congregation remain upbeat and hopeful despite the heavy cleanup and cost of the damages. “It is ironic that a $20 fire extinguisher caused that great of a loss,” he said. “We just can’t wait to see what God has in store for us.”

The church is located at 521 E. 4th St. Huntingburg.

Church phone: 683-5034 and Website.