DETROIT, MI (November 1, 2006) – A full week after it began, the fire in an abandoned building that had threatened Messiah Covenant Church finally has been extinguished, pastor Bob Hoey said this morning.
“My favorite verse of the day is, “and it came to pass,’” Hoey quipped.
“My favorite verse of the day is, “and it came to pass,’” Hoey quipped.
No cause for the blaze has been determined. A developer recently had purchased the building, which is adjacent to Messiah, and planned to convert it into residential lofts. Discussions continue as to whether the structure should be demolished or whether it still can be salvaged, Hoey said.
The building contained plastics used in automobile bodies. It was the third major fire in several months to threaten Messiah’s building.
Firefighters thought they had extinguished the fire last Wednesday, 23 hours after it started, but were called back to the scene when it re-ignited. Fire engines had been camped in the church parking lot ever since as departments struggled to bring the blaze under control.
Smoke was so thick earlier in the week that it almost obscured the church, which could not be seen from across the street. “People were crying thinking they were watching our church going up in flames,” Hoey said. “It’s a miracle the church is still in one piece.”
On Sunday, Hoey stood outside the church with the smoke rising around the building and was telling parishioners to park further down the street, reassuring them that the service still was going to be held.
Hoey found irony in the quote hanging in his church office that recalls the words of English missionary C.T. Studd: “Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” The pastor recalled, “I saw that yesterday, and I started to feel like it. I had to laugh.”
Messiah is located in an inner city neighborhood containing a number of abandoned buildings. The church has helped spark the growth of Covenant congregations in the Detroit area that have gone from two to nine since 1999, when Messiah was adopted into the Evangelical Covenant Church.
To read an earlier story about the fire and see photos, please visit Messiah Covenant Fire.
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.
