Pastor Randy Furushima was rehearsing with the rest of the worship team at Wellspring Covenant Church in Aiea, Hawaii, early Sunday morning. “We were in the middle of practicing this great worship song, but we were having a lot of problems with our sound system. When it hit, I thought we’ve got to cut down on this bass because the stage was shaking,” he says.
The “it” was the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the islands at 7:07 a.m., led to landslides and damages that officials estimate will climb easily above $50 million.
For a moment, no one on the worship team realized what had happened. One of the team members joked, “There goes pastor Randy dancing on the stage again,” Furushima says. “A few minutes later all the lights went out.” That’s when they knew.
About 20 people comprising the worship and hospitality teams were in the building at the time, but no one was injured, Furushima says. No major injuries were reported across the islands.
Despite government warnings to stay home, about 50 people showed up for the 8 a.m. service. “When I asked people why they showed up, they said, ‘We just wanted to be with the body of Christ.’ ”
With the electricity off, the worship team led an “unplugged” service and an impromptu message was given focusing on the earthquake that shook while Paul and Silas were in jail.
Twenty-five more people came to the 10 a.m. service, including a family that wanted to go ahead with an infant dedication.
Furushima says the church did sustain a crack on the tile floor that runs the entire width of the worship center floor. The Puna Congregational Covenant Church had no damage, a spokesperson said.
On the other end of the country, the worst October storm in Buffalo’s history left behind downed trees, lost power and a double whammy of snow and flooding. The surprisingly early lake-effect storm, and its bizarre mix of thunder and lightning, finally relented, but only after 390,000 homes lost electricity and tens of thousands of trees had been damaged.
The Columbus Day storm dumped nearly two feet of snow, the sixth-biggest snowfall ever in a 24-hour period, and forced the closings of schools, businesses and a 105-mile stretch of the New York State Thruway from Rochester to Dunkirk.
Buffalo Covenant Church lost electricity, had three inches of water in the basement, and tree branches all over the lawn and playground, says Pastor Dan Ward. Still, 25 people arrived for worship.
“They came in their work clothes, and after singing a few hymns – including “It Is Well with My Soul” and a time of prayer – they went to work,” Ward says. “Some cleaned out the refrigerator, and others used a portable pump and generator to pump water from the basement. The rest moved broken branches from the front lawn and playground to the street for removal.”
Electricity to the church was restored Tuesday afternoon, but many church members are among the 70 percent of the population still without power, a situation state officials have said could last until at least the weekend.
