PENSACOLA Fla. (ABP) — As the wind and rain of Hurricane Dennis bore down on First Baptist Church of Pensacola, Fla., Barry Howard preached his first sermon as the church's new pastor.
About 60 congregation members — and five dogs — took shelter in the church Saturday night, July 9, and heard Howard's 9 a.m. sermon on “Listening for the Music in the Storm.”
Howard, who has been in Pensacola less than a week, had no trouble finding music in the midst of chaos. He said he bonded with the congregation's members right away. “[My wife and I] feel like we've known them five or 10 years and we've only known them a few days,” Howard said July 11, one day after riding out the storm with the others in the church. “We were glad to be here to go through the storm with the folks at First Baptist Church.”
The historic Pensacola church was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago, suffering $1.67 million in damage. Despite the damage, First Baptist served as a staging point for relief workers from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship — as it will this year. Post-Ivan repairs to the exterior of the church were just completed when Dennis struck. This year, damage was less than expected, Howard said — mostly fallen trees and a few leaks.
Electricity stayed on halfway through the storm, which allowed the huddled church members to watch Dennis on radar as it approached. They pitched in to clean up leaks with mops and towels.
Ironically, the church's previous pastor, Robert Mills, resigned the Sunday before Ivan hit. Now the start of Barry Howard's tenure will always be linked to another hurricane.
Most churches in the region cancelled services for July 10. Dennis rose to a Category 4 storm but was downgraded to Category 3 by the time it reached land — 50 miles east of Ivan's path — Sunday afternoon. There was no reported loss of life and only modest structural damage in the region. Insurance industry sources estimated the damage at $3 billion to $5 billion — manageable by comparison to last year's record storms.
The eye wall hit First Baptist at about 2:20 p.m. and lasted 50 minutes. People went home at about 4:30 p.m. “We were well prepared,” Howard said. “There was no major structural damage.”
Howard complimented the work of the Emergency Operation Center and the Pensacola Police Department in preparing people for the hurricane and giving updates on the storm.
One day after the storm, Baptist disaster-relief workers from at least five states were assessing the needs and preparing to respond. But relief leaders predicted a smaller response than was required by Ivan.