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

The fire and not only devastated the leadership and congregation but also created the huge question of “What Next”? What are we going to do about the building, what will the insurance pay and how soon, just to name a couple of them. Our initial visit with our insurance agent occurred the day of the fire with reassurance of their help. We met with their disaster crew on Tuesday for a long period in which we were told they would provide us a spreadsheet and we needed to value, room by room, the contents of our 60,000 sq. ft. building to be able to claim it. Wow and this was just the start!

We also had a small provision to allow us to run the church financially for a short period. The balance of the insurance depended on what the outcome of Homeland Security, ATF, KC Police and are designated claims agent for the insurance company found. Total uncertainty prevailed, so we just relied on our God and Savior for strength, wisdom and peace and delt with the present needs of the staff and the congregation first.

The Church Office and Books

As the fire dwindled the Administrator and the Secretary talked the Fire Chief into letting them into the new building for a brief moment, at their on risk. They went in with grocery carts from our Outreach Center located across the street and retrieved the main computers, printers, IP Phone systems and as many documents as could be obtained. Most were water logged and left in the Outreach Center with fans to dry out in order to salvage as much as possible. All the equipment was repaired and phones were moved to Pastor Roberta Cranes home office and setup on Tuesday morning.

MIRACLE TWO - Tuesday evening church phones were up, computer systems were up and we made payroll, Praise God!

In the days ahead everything was just a blur of everyone attempting to get their arms around what had just happened and making plans for the next few weeks. We had help from every member of the congregation. We had prayer in our Outreach Center that the Lord would move in regard to the churches status, insurance and pretty much everything. We held Sunday services in the Nieman Elementary school on Sunday morning now.

The Insurance Story . . .

In the weeks ahead the Church Fire was ruled Accidental and we also received word from the city engineers that the new building had also been condemned as the heat from the old building had destroyed the integrity of this building also and both structures had to be torn down. The initial cost was estimated at over a million dollars alone. Remember our story had been in the local news and the national news and received a lot of attention. Our insurance had a provision for tearing down but was not sure yet on the amounts that would be allotted, so the destruction work began, brick by brick.

A few weeks after the news of a total loss and the declaration from the city to tear it down our insurance company called and wanted to have a meeting with us. We meet at a local Gates BBQ for lunch with our agent, claims adjuster and the regional representative of the insurance company.

After a few minutes of talking and a brief discussion of our situation the regional representative informed us that due to the amount of media attention and the consideration of our Non for Profit status that they had been authorized to pay out the policy limits on our loss.

MIRACLE THREE - Our insurance company pays us the maximum policy and contents limits! They also agreed to pay for the total destruction of both buildings. No itemizing 60,000 Sq. Ft. of contents or anything! Now tell me how Good God Is!

So now we had solid footing the hunt was on for a new building! In the months ahead we looked for buildings and properties all over the city and in all directions, asking God to make a way and give us His direction for this church! The Miracle Story of where we are now and just how we got here, is on the Land page so keep reading!