Ft. Lauderdale-Based Ministry Recovers Slowly After Wilma's Buffeting
by Allie Martin
November 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Florida-based Coral Ridge Ministries (CRM), one of the largest and most active Christian ministries in the U.S. and the world, is working on repair and recovery in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. Though CRM's facilities sustained some damage, a spokesman says daily operations are slowly returning to normal. Fort Lauderdale, home to Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Dr. D. James Kennedy's Center for Reclaiming America, and the broadcast outreaches of Coral Ridge Ministries, was hit hard by Hurricane Wilma. The storm, which roared across South Florida October 24 with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour, ripped the roof off Coral Ridge Presbyterian and allowed water to flow into the massive sanctuary. Some of the CRM offices also sustained major damage, including the ministry's distribution center.
Dr. Tom Rogeberg is executive vice president of Coral Ridge Ministries. He says Hurricane Wilma hit at a time when the ministry was already experiencing a downturn in donations, so he and the other ministry personnel "certainly pray that our [supporters] will be understanding that maybe our response will be a little slower than normal to various inquiries."
Rogeberg says the storm damage "has caused a number of logistical problems, but we have been receiving some mail now." He is urging friends and supporters of the ministry to be patient as well as to remember that any financial help that they can provide "would be certainly very helpful [in helping] us to rebuild quicker."
The CRM official notes that the offices for the ministry's television outreach, the church, and the Center for Reclaiming America all sustained heavy damage during the hurricane, and most ministry employees were not able to return to work for nearly two weeks while the power and phone service were out. Still, he acknowledges that the situation could have been worse.
"We do have extensive damage to the roof of our church," Rogeberg says. "More than three-quarters of the roof has come off. Much of the sanctuary ceiling, large portions of it, have already come down on the pews -- and we're praising God that no one has been seriously injured, no one has been killed [as a result of the damage]. This is nothing like our dear friends in the Gulf Coast area experienced."
Coral Ridge Presbyterian's Sunday services are currently being held in the church's fellowship hall. Electric power has been restored to the CRM facilities, and both phone and e-mail connections are again fully functional. Rogeberg says the ministry is thanking God and also thanking concerned friends and supporters for their prayers.
CRM's television broadcast ministry reaches 156 countries, its radio broadcasts go into more than 200 countries, and its "Evangelism Explosion" lay-evangelism training outreach is used in every nation on Earth. As CRM president Dr. D. James Kennedy notes on the organization's website, 'God is using this ministry to reach all over this world with the Gospel of Christ and that [is why] we want to get back up and operating as soon as possible."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
