{"id":2933,"date":"2007-02-05T19:10:03","date_gmt":"2007-02-05T19:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2010-12-08T21:16:17","modified_gmt":"2010-12-08T21:16:17","slug":"5391","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/02\/05\/5391\/","title":{"rendered":"Stunned Worshipers Remember the Sluss Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

DELAND, FL (February 5, 2007) \u2013 Roses lay on the three seats normally occupied by the Sluss family at Community Covenant Church on Sunday.
\n
\nMichael and Melinda Sluss were killed when a tornado ripped through their prefabricated home around 3 a.m. Friday. Their 16-year-old son, Aaron, remains hospitalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always sit behind them, so it was pretty tough,\u201d says Nils Swanson, whose own car was destroyed by a separate hurricane. \u201cEverybody\u2019s been taking it pretty hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sluss\u201cThey were there all the time,\u201d adds retired Evangelical Covenant Church Pastor Jim Swanson, noting that the family had been charter members of the church, which was planted three years ago. The congregation recently elected Melinda to the church council.<\/p>\n

The mood at Sunday\u2019s service was \u201csomber,\u201d Jim says. Flowers also were placed on the communion table. Pastor Dave Shaw spoke about the need to depend on the mercy of God, and Associate Pastor Craig Lee shared about the Lord\u2019s faithfulness after the Lee family home was destroyed in a hurricane.<\/p>\n

Nearly 60 people attended the service \u2013 the church averages 30 worshipers. The congregation meets in a building owned by a local Assembly of God church. That structure was not damaged.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Sentinel<\/em> carried a front-page story today on the Sluss family. The parents were among 20 fatalities that resulted from the tornadoes, some of which exceeded 160 mph. To read that article, please see Sluss Family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The power of the storm was evidenced not only by the deaths and destruction, but also by unusual occurrences. According to the paper, a woman more than 30 miles away from the Sluss home found a check written by Michael. The recovery of the check offered hope that more personal items might be found elsewhere, Melinda\u2019s mother told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

Michael Sluss, who shoed horses, had converted a barn into a blacksmith shop, but the storm decimated the building, which friends and family searched for personal items on Sunday.<\/p>\n

A relative told the Sentinel<\/em> she expects Aaron to be released by the end of the week. Friends are rallying to help.<\/p>\n

The youth group has gathered clothes for the teenager, a home-schooling group was raising money to replace his guitar, and a benefit at a roller rink was scheduled for this evening, Jim says. Kurt Miericke, superintendent of the Southeast Conference, said today that a fund would be set up to assist Aaron.<\/p>\n

The Swansons are recovering from the heavy damage inflicted on their home by a different tornado that struck at 4:30 a.m. Friday. Nils is director for Covenant Enabling Residences of Florida and has been living with his father, Jim, and mother, Beverly, in New Smyrna Beach.<\/p>\n

The tornado struck quickly without warning. \u201cThere was no time to do anything,\u201d recalls Jim.<\/p>\n

The twister sounded like a freight train ramming through their house. He adds the tornado\u00a0 \u201calso had a thud, thud, thud sound, which could have been the cars flipping over and the things coming off the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue tarp covered portions of the house today. Nils says the family spent Friday morning getting rid of water that had poured through the ceiling and windows.<\/p>\n

Neighbors are helping each other pick up the pieces. A local United Methodist congregation has a disaster relief team. By Friday afternoon, they had begun helping the Swanson\u2019s cover their roof.<\/p>\n

Jim says the family was more fortunate than others in the neighborhood, whose homes were destroyed. The storm picked up a neighbor\u2019s pickup truck and deposited it between two homes. A toolbox that had been bolted to the truck was found a quarter mile away.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DELAND, FL (February 5, 2007) \u2013 Roses lay on the three seats normally occupied by the Sluss family at Community Covenant Church on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStunned Worshipers Remember the Sluss Family - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/02\/05\/5391\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stunned Worshipers Remember the Sluss Family - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DELAND, FL (February 5, 2007) \u2013 Roses lay on the three seats normally occupied by the Sluss family at Community Covenant Church on Sunday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/02\/05\/5391\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-02-05T19:10:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-08T21:16:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/Hm\/EI\/HmEIb2I82upgQZ5HpyzEHQ\/Sluss.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Stunned Worshipers Remember the Sluss Family\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-02-05T19:10:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-08T21:16:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/Hm\\\/EI\\\/HmEIb2I82upgQZ5HpyzEHQ\\\/Sluss.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2007\\\/02\\\/05\\\/5391\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stunned Worshipers Remember the Sluss Family - 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