Miami Beach pastor J. P. Funk woke up Thursday morning to the news that a condo building only about a mile from his church had collapsed, leaving more than 150 people missing in the rubble. At least two people connected to Calvary Chapel Miami Beach lived in the building, including the mother of one of its members.
Funk’s focus immediately turned to the disaster—but he worried that his congregation wouldn’t be able to help in the crucial early days of search and rescue. Half its staff was on vacation, and they initially had no way to access the disaster site, which was surrounded by law enforcement and clouded by smoke. “You can see the smoke from smoldering ruins reminiscent of 9/11,” he told CT.
As the news began to air footage of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, with its fallen-away side and piles of concrete below, local churches responded the best way they knew how: They showed up to offer support for first responders and distraught families and gathered to pray for miracles as the rescue efforts went on day by day.
The 12-story beachside building was home to an international mix of foreign retirees, South American immigrants, and Orthodox Jews. The closest church is right across the street, a Spanish-speaking congregation called Casa.
Casa offered up its building to law enforcement and quickly sent out calls for members to bring snacks and drinks. Volunteers walked through the busy tangle of media and rescue workers to deliver refreshments and words of encouragement.
Calvary Chapel Miami Beach, thanks to its involvement with police chaplains and the Florida Christian Peace Officers, secured permission to minister at a pop-up tent beside the collapsed building. They “covered the scene in prayer,” and the Miami Beach chief of police specifically asked them to lift up his team.
As the days go on without more of the missing residents being discovered, though, their prayers’ focus has gone from successful rescue efforts and miraculous survival to the inevitability of grief with the likely death toll of this disaster.
“On Friday, along with [praying for miracles], our focus has been the compassion and presence of God in the midst of crisis at a human level,” Funk said. “We pray for the families to quickly recover their loved ones’ remains as this causes great anguish once it is most probable that they have perished.”
Search teams found another body on Saturday, bringing the confirmed death toll up to five. There are 156 residents unaccounted for.
No, Says the judge. That would be illegal.A federal judge in New York City has blocked—at least temporarily—a federal regulation requiring parents to be notified when minors receive prescription contraceptives. The rule would have applied to all family planning clinics receiving any federal financing. It was set to take effect late last month.Judge Henry F. Werker said the regulation is invalid because it subverts the intention of Congress to combat teenage pregnancy, and that notification of parents when minors receive contraceptives would work against that intention. The temporary injunction applies to some 5,000 family clinics around the country. The Justice Department will appeal the action.In 1970, Congress added a section known as Title 10 to the Public Health Service Act. The provision provided federal money for public and private family-planning agencies. Congress amended the law in 1978 to require that services be given to adolescents, because it said teen-age pregnancies were a critical problem.The rule would have required that parents be notified within 10 days when prescription contraceptives were given to teen-agers under 18 and under parental care. There were exceptions in cases of suspected child abuse or incest.During congressional hearings on the regulation, George Ryan, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called it a smokescreen for “turning back the clock on sexual attitudes.” He said, “The idea that we’re all going to have a Robert Young, ‘Father Knows Best’ kind of family is just not reality.”Richard Schweiker, then secretary of Health and Human Services, argued however that “in every other area of their lives, parents are involved and held responsible.… It is paradoxical that when it comes to prescribing drugs and devices with potentially serious health consequences, federal policy has not recognized parental responsibility and involvement.”Instead Of Jail, She Is Sentenced To A Religious CommunityLast November 21, 18-year-old Ann Marie O’Brien set fire to her house, resulting in the death of her nine-year-old brother. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and could have been jailed for 10 years. But the judge, family members, even the prosecuting lawyers, agreed that this time imprisonment was not the answer. O’Brien reportedly wept openly, sometimes uncontrollably, at all her court appearances. Her attorney explained that she lit the fire to express pent-up frustrations over parental restrictions on her social life and that “she very honestly had not thought of the consequences.” Four court-appointed psychiatrists who examined O’Brien said her guilt would be with her a lifetime. They advised against incarceration.After extensive conversations with the attorneys, a probation officer, O’Brien’s parents, and the psychiatrists, and after summoning O’Brien to his chambers four times to discuss the crime, Superior Court Judge Fred Galda determined that “jail would kill her.” He decided instead to allow O’Brien to spend 30 months at a Newark, New Jersey, Roman Catholic charismatic community called the People of Hope.Newark Bishop Joseph Francis called the sentence “very unusual, but very creative.” He said, “The prison system as we presently have it is too harsh and too cruel punishment for certain offenders, especially in the category of this girl.” Richard Muti, the prosecutor, stated in court: “The event may well be categorized more a tragedy than a crime. Incarceration in prison will destroy this person. The state has no wish to compound the tragedy the O’Brien family has suffered.”The People of Hope, started 11 years ago, is a close-knit community of more than 1,000 members. Some of them have troubled or rootless pasts, but O’Brien will be the first member accepted in lieu of a jail term. The community’s director, James Ferry, says they are taking a risk. “A few years ago we would not have had the stability to do this,” he said. “Today, when the need arose, the Lord wouldn’t let me get it out of my mind.”In instances where loss comes so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and on such a great scale, people raise questions about how God could allow such deaths to take place. “There are two things that are the most true in every human tragedy: God is good, and God is merciful,” Funk said.
“We don't believe God punishes the image-bearers of his likeness by disasters; we are all frail and fragile in our humanness,” he said, citing Luke 13:1–5.
Teams from out of town, including chaplains dispatched through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and a 40-person group through Youth With a Mission (YWAM), have come down to Miami to provide additional spiritual care.
“Pray for the family members of those who lived in the building waiting to hear if their loved ones are safe or not,” Franklin Graham said. “The Bible tells us, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1).”
Due to its proximity to the disaster, Casa canceled in-person services for Sunday, but will be worshiping online following weeknight prayer vigils for the disaster. “We will be singing to God and praying for all affected!” a post on the church’s Facebook page read. Casa thanked fellow churches—including Rich Wilkerson’s Vous Church in Miami—for their donations and support.
Church by the Sea, in nearby Bay Harbor Islands, dedicated a Sunday service to praying for the disaster and collecting relief funds. Church leaders said none of their congregants lived in the building, though their family or friends may have.
“Strengthen us that we may help carry the burden of those who suffer, those filled with worry, concern and grief; and those who still wait to hear of loved ones,” ministers Rob and Barbara Asinger wrote. “Make us bearers of hope and agents of healing. Let your love be known through all those who work to bring order to the chaos—the firefighters, emergency workers and police.”
A “very large group” from Surfside’s Jewish community lived in the building and remains unaccounted for, according to Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, the founder of the Shul of Bal Harbour. The Shul already raised over a half-million dollars in relief funds. Like their Christian neighbors, his community is praying for miracles, he said, “because the circumstances are very, very grim.”
With reporting from the Associated Press.
