Greetings,

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of the many people who have reached out to our church during this difficult time. In the early morning hours of July 18th three young men broke into our church and set multiple fires. At 4:16 a.m. I received a call from a friend of mine who was on his way to work, and saw the church on fire with multiple fire trucks in the parking lot. I will never forget the tone of his voice and the panic I felt when he told me that the church was on fire. When I asked if it was bad he hesitated and I knew then it was not good. Experiencing a fire is a traumatic thing in and of itself but when you have already been through one it is even worse. Our church at another location had a fire from a construction accident in August of 2003 that devastated our entire building. Along with all the church contents I lost every sermon I had ever preached, my entire library of over 17 years, my personal pictures and collectables as well as every Bible I had ever owned except the one I had at home. When something like that happens it erases so much and there are just things you cannot replace. For years after that I would panic if I smelled smoke while inside of a building. Now I am getting the news that our new facility that we were so proud of was being destroyed by flames again. Why God? Why fire? There are always those who will be quick to suspect the worst about a church fire, but what about a pastor who has experienced two? I knew in my heart that I had no negligence at all in either incident but it’s hard to shake what others might think.

I prayed all the way from my house to the church, asking God for the strength to endure and to be strong for our people. When I arrived at the church my heart sunk, at least 4 big fire trucks were on the parking lot and smoke was coming from the steeple and every other conceivable crack and crevice of the building. I saw firemen coming out exhausted with heat and pulling off their suits with cups of sweat dripping from their clothes. I wanted to lay prostrate on the ground and cry, but something inside of me told me there will be a time to cry but now is not that time. As daylight approached more and more of our church family began to arrive, some cried while others were seemingly being strong for me. They say you don’t know who a person is until you see them suffer, and that is true. I realized more than ever just what kind of people I have been blessed with at Living Hope, people who love God and people who love me. News cameras and reporters began to gather in the Chambers County parking lot next door to our church, most of the interviews I held my composure but on one occasion I began to break down.

Once the fire was out and the trucks began to pull out the fire marshals and investigators began to gather information. We had had a break in and vandalism just the Friday before by a youth that we had caught on camera, they were all interested in the surveillance footage but unfortunately it was destroyed by the intruders. I wanted the person or persons responsible caught and I gave out the description of the teen we had observed on Friday to the media. The big break came by way of a tip from a nearby neighbor who had observed 3 youth in early morning hours walking down the street of their subdivision holding suspicious items. This led to a closer look at a nearby residence that led police to 3 young men who confessed to the crime, one 19 year old and two juveniles. I can tell you that I am grateful they were caught but feel so bad that they chose to throw their lives away with such a hateful act.

Later in the day I went with a fire Marshall inside the building for the first time and was heart broken at the devastation. Though the fire raged mostly in the upstairs room and attic the smoke damage could be seen and smelled everywhere. It will still be several more days before the full extent of the damage is known but suffice to say that at least a great deal of the interior along with roof panels and other parts of the structure will have to be rebuilt.

Many pastors offered us their churches as a temporary place of worship, so we had to consider location, time frames available and convenience. For almost 1.5 years we had to worship in the gymnasium of the Baytown YMCA and setting up and taking down was not something I looked forward to. A good friend and fellow pastor Mike Breaux of New Journey Church had just recently relocated to their new facility on 8200 North Main . They were greatly blessed with this new building and the extra space it provided, they offered us more than we could have asked for including an office for us to use during the week. We elected to go to an earlier worship time of 8:45 rather than a later one after 12:00 so that our people would have more time left in their day. I know the adjustment will take some time but we are so grateful for a pastor and church that would open up their hearts and their building to help us in our time of need.

It is our prayer that we will soon be able to begin clean up and move forward in the process of rebuilding our church. We know that what the devil meant for evil God is going to turn around for good. We are so excited to see what the future holds for our church we have been seeing many souls saved and baptized and believe for many more. Our goal is not to “survive” until our facility is rebuilt; our belief is that when we move back into our building it will be with more people than when we left!

In order to keep our church family and those who are following our progress informed I will be attempting to keep a daily blog on this site (even if it’s just a paragraph) to keep you up to speed on events and updates. Our new service times are listed here on the site and we will do our best to keep our calendar current. God bless you and thank you for visiting our site, stay tuned as each new day will take us one step closer to our destiny. We appreciate and covet your prayers!

Love,

Pastor Kevin