“As I watch the news, I not only see the devastation of the fires burning across the West, I’m also aware that our Alliance family is present in these regions. So that we can better pray for and support our churches, I’ve asked our team to provide for you the following information. May we continue to stand together through fire and flood, COVID and crisis.”
—John Stumbo, President
According to the New York Times, more than 3 million acres in California and 900,000 acres in Oregon have burned in the summer of 2020. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and 10 people were killed in the Bear Fire in California.
Many churches in the Alliance Northwest District have been threatened by the fires. A church plant in Central Point, Oregon, partners with a Hispanic church whose pastor lost his home. A few other churches in Clackamas County, Oregon, will potentially be forced to evacuate in the near future.
The pastor of Medford (Oregon) Neighborhood Church, Lee Gregory, and his wife, Doreen, had to evacuate for a couple days, but they were able to return home. Their church is also fine, however, 10–15 families in the church have lost their homes in Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, just outside of Medford.
In an effort to care for their community, Lee has been driving a school bus to take people back to their burned homes, and the Medford Neighborhood Church has set up a relief fund (I C.A.R.E.) to care for those who have lost homes during this disaster. They will be meeting with other churches and local businesses to work together to support these people, and CAMA will be providing funds to help them in their efforts. Read more about Pastor Lee’s efforts to lead through this crisis in this recent New York Times article.
Alliance churches and church members in California have remained unharmed. No churches in the South Pacific District are currently being threatened by fires, and Central Pacific District (CPD) Superintendent Wayne Spriggs reports:
This may be a surprise, but to our knowledge the only impact of the fires in the areas where CPD churches are located is the smoke. Paradise was under a threat of evacuation, but Pastor Josh Gallagher texted me last night to say that no one had to evacuate. Many areas of Northern California have extremely poor air quality. This is further isolating our people, especially in the Bay area, but to our knowledge no church or church members have been impacted by the fires. We praise God for this.
Please keep these communities in your prayers as these fires continue to rage. Also pray for the firefighters who are risking themselves for the lives and livelihoods of others.