California Earthquake: Relief, Rebuilding Efforts Unite Churches, Neighbors

Evangelical churches, their members, and neighbors in need have found common ground as the Los Angeles area rebuilds after a January 17 earthquake, which has become the second-costliest natural disaster in U.S. history after Hurricane Andrew.

“If God has not given us this moment to show our good works, then what will be that moment?” asked pastor Jack Hayford of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, one area hit by the temblor that caused an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion in damage. “God has broken down a wall of blocked communications between ethnic groups, believers and nonbelievers, and rich and poor.”

The 6.7 Richter-scale earthquake, which lasted but 30 seconds, caused at least 62 deaths and more than 9,000 injuries. It left 20,000 people homeless. Federal officials say nearly 10,000 houses, apartments, and mobile homes were destroyed, with another 46,000 damaged.

Churches damaged

The temblor also damaged numerous churches, including Calvary Chapel of the San Fernando Valley, the White Oak Evangelical Covenant Church, and the Salvation Army’s San Fernando Corps. Calvary Chapel has continued holding services under a tent in its parking lot.

“Our building is pretty much history,” associate pastor Dennis Onken says of the 30-year-old, wood-frame structure. “The church is doing very well spiritually. Meeting in the tent is like having a good old-fashioned revival. Even though the building is history, thank God the church isn’t a building.”

Capt. James Halverson, the Salvation Army’s commanding officer in Van Nuys, has not had time to think of the damage to his church because of long lines of people outside the building looking for food, water, diapers, and pup tents. The Salvation Army became a leading provider of relief when the city of Los Angeles asked the agency to run several “tent cities” and shelters for those left homeless. An extensive contingent of volunteers amassed for nonstop service in the quake area.

Speedy relief effort

The funneling of relief supplies has been a key element of the efforts of numerous church groups.

• World Vision, based in nearby Monrovia, has pledged $121,500 through 35 churches in the area. World Vision is targeting churches that have been hit hard by the quake. Spokesperson Cathy MacCaul says, “We just want to empower the church and enable them to respond in a disaster situation.”

• Feed the Children, based in Oklahoma City, has brought 980,000 pounds of goods—28 truckloads—to the Los Angeles area and will continue after the main relief efforts officially end. “People’s needs go on for a long time when you lose a house and the ability to prepare meals and the ability to get up and brush your teeth every day,” spokesperson Brenda Jones says. “It takes a long time for people to put their lives back together.”

• World Concern in Seattle has brought tons of supplies to quake victims, goods that were distributed by the Salvation Army. The group’s appeal for funds touched the hearts of even young donors, including an entire school in Bellingham, Washington. Nine-year-old Sean Green raised $800 by himself and spearheaded a drive that raised tons of food.

• Operation Blessing, a project of the Christian Broadcasting Network, sent $60,000 in cash and 10,000 blankets to quake victims.

• Food for the Hungry of Scottsdale, Arizona, brought 30,000 pounds of supplies to quake victims. Field worker David Mercer says the group was able to help a father and his three young children, who were terrified to go back to their damaged apartment. “They were forced to live outside of their apartment and had very little access to water and food,” Mercer says. “They viewed the supplies we brought as a gift from God.”

Along with meeting physical needs of those hurt by the quake, some groups concentrated on postdisaster assistance.

Beyond physical needs

“The biggest need is for providing professional advice and friendship support for distressed survivors who need immediate help,” says Joy Witte of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “They need someone to talk to, find out what services are available to them and how to find them.” Witte says the group hopes to raise $100,000 to help rebuild three severely damaged Christian Reformed Church buildings.

World Relief, based in Wheaton, Illinois, organized a “Critical Incident Stress Reduction” workshop for volunteers in the quake zone, many of whom had their own circumstances to confront. In addition, the group convened a meeting of 100 area pastors under the name United Christian Response to plan long-term rehabilitation efforts.

By Mark A. Kellner in Woodland Hills, California.

God’S Wrath Upon Pornography?

California’s $3-billion-a-year pornographic movie industry is viewing the earthquake as God’s personal destruction of America’s most wicked city, some porn producers say.

The quake was centered in the cities of Northridge, Chatsworth, and Canoga Park, which are home to nearly all of the U.S. soft-and hard-porn video industry. Every one of the primary porn studios and distributors, a total of around 70, suffered damage. The headquarters of the largest, VCA Pictures, collapsed, destroying equipment and master copies of several films. At least for the moment, high-level porn studio executives and models are edgy.

An executive at World Modeling, a San Fernando Valley agency supplying actors to the porn industry, says clients are backing away from X-rated acting as a result of the cataclysm.

“Our clients have a definite lack of motivation,” says the agent for porn actors, who requested anonymity. “It’s put the fear of God in them. I’m telling you, it’s enough to give you an attack of religion.”

“Can you imagine how the fundamentalists are going to leap on this when the smoke clears?” says a porn film director who works for many Northridge studios and asked not to be identified. “They’ll say it’s God’s retribution.”

“It seems as though the earthquake forced these people to get honest,” says Jack Hayford, pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys. “It has stirred many to the deepest points of introspection, and if just one of them is turned away from the filth they’re involved in, it is a major victory.”

Hayford, along with Hollywood Presbyterian Church pastor Lloyd Ogilvie, and Los Angeles Archdiocese Cardinal Roger Mahony have sent a letter of protest against the Valley-based porn industry to the California legislature, asking lawmakers to draft a bill eliminating its most notorious offshoot, child pornography.

By Perucci Ferraiuolo.

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