On Tuesday night, I walked into the ROC at our church and was confronted with a massive water leak. A pipe had burst in one of the classrooms. It was blasting out like a firehose. Water stretched from the front door to the gym, down the hallway to the refuge and nearly to the kitchen. It was 2-3 inches deep in places. The water was hot, so the building felt like a sauna.
When I stepped into the room and saw the water blasting there first thing I noticed was all of our filming equipment sitting under the waterfall. Since the COVID shutdown we have been filming all or part of the sermon. In the first few weeks we were using some church equipment, but almost all borrowed equipment. We were moving it in cardboard boxes and bags. Then in May one of our borrowed cameras blew over in a strong wind and it damaged a very expensive lens. We decided right then to buy cameras that were the churches. In those early weeks, we needed more and more equipment to produce the service each week. We bought cameras, lights and sound equipment. We also bought professional camera cases to protect the investment.
The equipment has been stored each week in H4 which has been repurposed as our filming studio. The water never reached H-4. This week for the first time we put the equipment in H1, the room where the water jet was emanating. Our maintenance crew has been painting the ROC in preparation for opening the church which we pray is just few weeks away. They were about to empty out H4 so we put the cameras in H1 while they were painting. When I saw all the gear in the water I let out a guttural yell. Cindy, Logan and I waded into the mist and drug all the equipment to the lobby. Cindy checked the cases. They were all closed. When she opened them, all of the equipment was come-they dry. They paid for themselves! We did not loose a single piece of equipment.
I posted a video of the water on our staff communication platform. Within minutes staff started to arrive. Steve Gowan turned the water off to the building. Then we started to push water out of the building. We used push brooms and some plastic blades. For about two hours we pushed water out of classrooms, into the hall, into the lobby and out the front doors. Others showed up with water vacuums and pulled up even more water.
I just want you to know how much our church staff cares about you and our church. They have worked so hard this last year, they have done it with so much grace. There is no way we could have accomplished so much, helped so many without them. This has been a stressful year. The difficulty has been tolerable because of the selfless sacrifice of so many. Thanks to you all.