Calls and prayers for Pastor and his family have been arriving at church all Wednesday. Thank you for your concern and offers of support, including housing, clothing and financial aid. We have yet to be in touch with him since early this morning, but trust that he is being well taken care of during these initial stages by the American Red Cross and others in his immediate neighborhood. We have learned that the family has clothing and was provided immediate temporary housing at a hotel near Taunton.
At Pastor’s request, the March 11th Wednesday night service went forward. Please note that District President Pastor Timothy Yeadon and several other area pastors arrived at FLC to conduct tonight’s mid-week service with pastor Jeremy Pekari delivering the sermon and congregation member Brian Harms singing the liturgy.
Please also know we are working to support the family moving forward and your church leaders have just completed a brief conference call to put those plans in motion. As for immediate issues:
- The New England District-LCMS and Synod have already committed emergency funds for Pastor and his family. Our financial team will meet March 12th with Brenda Bacon of the New England District to work toward establishing a process for accepting contributions to support Pastor at this time. We welcome offers of financial aid, but ask that you wait for further information before making any contributions.
- We’re sorting through other offers of assistance, from clothing to temporary housing, that we will provide to Pastor as he makes short- and long-term decisions. A list of both those who are offering prayers and voicing support, and offering goods, services and housing is being compiled to forward to him.
We will continue to provide you with additional information when we know it and we hope to have an opportunity to speak with him soon, having honored his request to allow him to work through the personal, legal and investigative aspects of this tragedy during the day. Calls have also been placed to family members not directly involved with the fire.
John Lindemann
Acting Parish Administrator
