August 31, 2012 — Laurier Heights Baptist in Edmonton has just suffered its second watermain break in 13 months. The church is requesting your prayer support during this challenging time.
The church was within 2 weeks of completing renovations made necessary by last year’s major flooding and must now start all over again to repair new water damage. Most of the water damage is restricted to the south (sanctuary) side of the building.
The church is covered by insurance and will be making a new claim. The latest flooding will set renovations back at least a month and creates the fourth separate list of contents to write off, replace, track, expense, etc.
Pastor Steve Simala-Grant says, “Within about 36 hours we were back to laughing about how ridiculous it all is.
There is a lot of good news. Pastor Sue Hunter and her husband Ian were at the church and heard the water rushing within a few minutes of the break. It took about 45 minutes for the watermain to be shut off and contractors and insurance personnel have been able to respond quickly. The main insurance adjuster, who is based in Abbotsford BC, just happened to be in Edmonton and was here in less than half an hour. He had a mechanical engineer on site within about an hour. The project manager was also here right away, and had an emergency crew here within 3 hours. Cleanup has already begun.
Upon initial inspection, it appears the plumbers who re-connected the water line after the first break may be responsible for this issue. Whatever the cause, the damage is covered by insurance.
The church is hoping and trusting that this is a fairly quick and simple repair. Walls are being opened as little as possible but as much as needed to properly dry out, and drying equipment is running. Hopefully this will be quick and effective. It is not yet known whether the new flooring will have to be replaced or whether the sealing and wax coating has protected it from the water. Some contents and furniture will need to be replaced (again), but the church hopes and trusts that will be minimal.
“Of course this is discouraging, and is certainly a set back, but we are going to be fine. Ministry is going to continue to happen. God continues to be great. We continue to trust in God, and will never stop seeking first the Kingdom of God,” says Pastor Simala-Grant. “We continue to believe God is beginning a new thing, and we continue to believe “that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1:6). Now while we may wish that day of Christ Jesus’ return is very soon, in the meantime we will be faithful to all God has called us to and will work as hard as we must to be good stewards in God’s Kingdom. We will continue to love God and love one another, and put God first and Love first. I am confident that we will get past this latest set back quickly and effectively.”