11-13-2016, THE FIRE

It was Sunday, 11/13/2016 at 5:30AM, when we received a call from our Alarm Company that our building was on fire. We rushed down to 1024 Truman Rd. Kansas City, MO to see the entire original building up in flames. There were at least 6 trucks now attempting to put it out. Fast forward, it was under watch for 2 straight weeks as small fires kept erupting.

MIRACLE ONE - If the fire had broken out just 3 hours later, the church would have been full of people! God is so good!

Thankfully the church had a satellite location at Niemen Elementary School in Shawnee KS at 5:00 PM on Sundays. That same Sunday as the fire we had our first Sunday . . . with no building.

It’s hard to put into perspective the magnitude of what was going on that day. In the lives, minds and hearts of the leadership, the congregation and the community. God not only demonstrated His grace but also His provision, faithfulness and just how good He is to everyone! We continue on after the videos to show you how Good God is to His people, so don’t stop reading!

Below are a series of videos and pictures to show it up close and personal.

Fire still burning 30 Hrs. later . . .

Pastor John Crane speaks to reporters at Nieman School on the day of the fire.

Congregation gathers at Nieman School the day of the fire.

Fire ruled as an accident.

Full Press Conference with Pastor John Crane and Asst. Pastor Darrel Robinson

Walls come down as both buildings are a total loss.

In the next days after the fire, God kept right on taking great care of us!

A few years back we had purchased the property directly across the street, due to the need for additional parking. In addition to parking, this property also had a small 6,000 sq. ft building that we had remodeled with the purpose of housing an outreach facility to the community. Duly named the “Outreach Center”, this facility housed freezers, coolers, loads of shelving, fitting rooms, two offices and . . . One Large Meeting Room that would accommodate around 50 people. This became our meeting, staging and most of all Prayer and Planning Room. The leadership met here regularly to pray and plan for God’s direction, His favor and most of all the “Peace that passes all understanding”, while we planned and prepared for the future of ECC. YES, God’s Peace! We needed this most of all due to the crazy events we had just gone through.

So here we were having our Sunday Morning services at Nieman Elementary School in Shawnee, KS. It took two, fifteen passenger vans with one pulling a trailer to haul all our sound equipment and more, just to have services. We were meeting in a small building through the week to pray and plan for our future and guess what . . . YES, believe it or not God gave us peace about the future! The peace from knowing it’s all in His hands and He wants the best for this body of believers. PRAISE GOD!