Posted on 11/27/2009 1:08:09 PM PST by SmithL
Reminders of last summer’s tornado are still evident at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis.
A red scaffolding setup stands next to one of the limestone walls of the historic, 82-year-old church at 333 S. 12th St. At the peak of the roof, still more scaffolding — complete with a Les Jones Roofing banner — surrounds the tornado-damaged steeple.
A 176-foot crane towers over the house of worship, which stood in the path of the Aug. 19 twister as it swept through south Minneapolis.
The tornado inflicted $300,000 worth of damage to the church, but repairs are going well and are on schedule for completion in December, according to Joe Bjordal, Central Lutheran’s manager of communications and public relations.
Crews will put the finishing touches on the project on a Sunday afternoon in December — either Dec. 6 or Dec. 13 — when they remount the 12-foot-tall, 900-pound solid brass cross that topped off the steeple and stood watch over the church for more than eight decades.
“We will raise that cross back up after church at noon, with everyone watching and news cameras rolling,” Bjordal said.
Central Lutheran made international news in the aftermath of the tornado. The Weather Channel was on the scene with a live report, CNN cameras were there, and the Associated Press picked up photos that Bjordal had snapped just minutes after the tornado struck.
Violent winds from the tornado broke a steel support pole that held up the cross, leaving the brass religious image hanging atop its perch.
“The next day, we took it down by crane,” Bjordal said. “Let’s say it had a soft landing.”
Could’ve been worse
As part of the effort to replace the support pole, restoration crews had to carefully remove copper cladding from the steeple. Damaged cladding was re-fabricated and made to resemble the original parts, according to the church.
Bjordal credited Bloomington-based Les Jones Roofing for its restoration efforts.
“We hired a good company,” he said. “These are people that are wizards in re-creating this stuff.”
Challenges included getting workers and materials up to the steeple safely, making sure everything was plumb and square, and getting a good match on the copper cladding, taking into consideration the natural color changes that copper materials experience over time.
“We do a lot of unique, interesting projects, but this is certainly right up there,” company owner Les Jones said.
Looking back at the events of Aug. 19, Bjordal recalled that pressure from the tornado “sucked open” the church’s 17 or so doors to the outside. The storm also blew about 150 slate tiles off the roof, but the damage could have been far worse.
At the time of the tornado, the church was hosting events related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) national convention, which was taking place at the nearby Minneapolis Convention Center.
Central Lutheran’s North Plaza hosted a makeshift outdoor restaurant, complete with tents and seating for 200 convention visitors. Addition hospitality tents filled up space in a church parking lot.
One tent, which was anchored by steel stakes, “exploded after its contents were … blown onto Third Avenue,” Bjordal wrote in a church newsletter.
Despite the activity in and around the church, no one was injured.
From a financial standpoint, the church was in good shape because insurance covered most of the damage. Moreover, a visitor to the church one Sunday wrote out a $5,000 check to cover the insurance deductible, Bjordal said.
Bjordal noted the church also got something that can’t be measured in dollars and cents: an outpouring of good will and support from around the world.
“You can’t buy this kind of publicity,” he said.
There is no mention of the damage caused by the ELCA.
Yup. Amazing the timing of the destruction of the steeple.
When I read about this, It really freaked me out. This is the type of thing you see coming straight out of the Old Testament. I can't conclude that this is pure happenstance, given that a tornado could have struck anywhere at any time... why did it happen right at the Central Lutheran Church during the ELCA vote?
God leaves clear messages only the deaf can not hear them !
Some pictures and graphics are worth a thousand words
Lutheran (EL C S*A) Ping!
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Nor is there any mention of how Central Lutheran was to be the venue for a heterodox "liturgy" that very night sponsored by the radical gaysbian advocacy group Goodsoil and that a rehearsal for that pseudochristian "service" had just concluded when the tornado hit.
The tents were for a Goodsoil-sponsored recepetion in conjunction with the "service".
Anybody know whose tent that was, and what the contents were that were tossed to the curb?
Were there any reports of other damage in the vicinity of the church?
I saw photos of the tent after the tornado swept through. It looked like dining tables and chairs were inside. They were blown all over the sidewalk.
They haven’t been able to erase the “Ichabod” inscription divinely scribed on their denominational door, however.
Thanks, ViLaLuz!
They can fix the steeple, but God’s warning still stands!!!!
I don’t think that is wise for them to hold such a public, triumphal spectacle when they remount that cross. Lord have mercy!!!!
I can’t believe they didn’t interpret it as a sign from God that they should NOT do what they did anyway
OH YEAH I remember that story whoa
"You either approve gay and lesbian sexually active pastors and clergy or you don't," he told Baptist Press. "Opinion is divided enough in the mainline denominations that if you approve it, then you're going to have conservatives leaving and if you don't, then you're going to have liberals leaving. I believe that this issue will end up reconfiguring the entire mainline Protestant landscape. It is in the process of dividing the Episcopalians. It's dividing now the Lutherans. It's in the process of dividing the Presbyterians, and it eventually will end up dividing the Methodists."
Land asked, rhetorically, referencing the ELCA's namesake, "Does anyone have any doubt what Martin Luther believed about this? The question is whether you're going to be under the authority of Scripture or not. And, clearly, there are large chunks of mainline Protestantism that have decided they are going to stand in judgment of Scripture."
No mention also that the cross was perfectly inverted, and not blown completely off.
Talk about a cosmic ‘no’ vote.
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