On Sunday, Trinity Lutheran Church in Midland will celebrate with JoDee Hacker not only is it her birthday, but it is also a celebration of her years with Trinity.

JoDee will retire on Sept. 30.

Fifteen years ago was a time of change in the life of Trinity Lutheran Church, 3701 Jefferson Ave. The church had just undergone a huge construction project, which added classrooms and a commercial-grade kitchen to the facilities.

While the changes were a blessing, they brought with them additional responsibilities for the churchs already busy pastors. Enter JoDee Hacker, who became the churchs parish administrator. It was a role that surprised her and one she will be retiring from at the end of this month.

There was an ad in the church bulletin and one of the pastors suggested Id be good at it, Hacker said. I didnt really know that I was qualified, but I decided to interview for the position.

Prior to being hired as the administrator, Hacker had worked in the mental health field with people with disabilities for more than 20 years. It turned out the compassion that was an important part of her job then was just as important for her work with the church.

The beauty of JoDees position is that it really evolved over the years and JoDee gracefully evolved with it, said Rev. Gerald Ferguson, the churchs senior pastor. She really put all her gifts and talents and abilities into it and it makes it hard to replace her.

Hackers role as administrator was really all encompassing- scheduling facility use, making sure everything was in working order, ensuring those using the churchs kitchen had the proper training in food safety, getting city approval for the churchs parsonages, meeting with various local groups to help meet the communitys needs and more.

It started out as taking care of things, like those using the church for weddings and such, Hacker said. So the pastors didnt have to worry about that.

While a lot of the work relied on Hacker being organized and diligent, it was her heart that was a vital part of her work and made her such an asset to the church.

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Hacker retiring at Trinity Lutheran Church in Midland

2014 0916 Church Construction Progress
Progress photo along the Nave, with an overlay of the Interior Design Concept of Arch. Joey Amistoso.

By: ANDOY SALCEDO

Originally posted here:
2014 0916 Church Construction Progress - Video

One of the most visible wounds the Napa earthquake inflicted on the city was its blow to First United Methodist Church specifically to its faade, which was left lurching toward Randolph Street.

On Friday, an array of machinery began painstakingly raising the edge of the roof over the 98-year-old Methodist sanctuary, allowing work crews to shift the front wall to its correct position. Church members said this culmination of two weeks of repairs completes the first stage in shoring up the building, a process expected to require at least six months and more than $1 million.

I dont think the process will be very dynamic, Jon Lander, a member of the Napa Methodist church and liaison to engineers on the repair project, said Thursday. At least I hope its not dynamic, because if it is, something went wrong. We have a big stained-glass window that were trying to protect, which is probably worth more than that whole wall.

A member of First United Methodist and a civil engineer for 39 years, Lander is assisting the Pullman engineering firms Bay Area branch in identifying damage and weak spots in the sanctuary, which opened in 1916.

After the magnitude-6.0 quake extensively damaged several downtown landmarks, the Methodist church at first seemed in danger of losing its front wall, which separated 20 inches from the remaining structure at the roofline. But church and engineering officials determined the wall could be reattached because its construction of wood, lath and plaster made it lighter and more supple than originally believed.

Repairs began nearly two weeks ago, and will move to their second stage Monday, according to Lander. Starting next week, workers will open church walls to analyze the structure and determine whether new structural supports are needed, and where. The inquiry is expected to help engineers refine the cost estimate by mid-October.

In the absence of architect Luther Turtons plans for the Napa Methodist church, engineers are studying another Methodist sanctuary of similar age and design in Sebastopol to guide the repair effort, Lander said.

In the days after the quake, the church contacted the Napa County Historical Society in hopes of finding the plans among Turtons collected blueprints, according to Nancy Levenberg, the societys executive director. However, the historical societys archive at the downtown Goodman Library has been red-tagged and off limits due to earthquake damage.

The church expects to receive financial help with repairs from other Methodist congregations in the region, Lander said. In addition, the church may use this event to perform some desired modernization, he said.

Church offices in an attached annex have reopened, along with the Hope Resource Center, which shares a natural gas connection with the church and lost service after the earthquake. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is expected to give the center its own gas connection by next weekend to allow the center to offer hot showers.

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Methodist church reattaches wall to sanctuary

Philippine Daily Inquirer

News, regions, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, St. Anne parish church

PIDDIG, Ilocos NorteThe 204-year-old St. Anne parish church in Piddig town in Ilocos Norte province was decommissioned on Sunday after engineering experts from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) declared the church unfit for occupancy.

Laoag Bishop Renato Mayugba officiated the last Mass in the church and led the closure rites on Sunday.

Mayugba said there was no need to wait for another earthquake, like the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that toppled old churches in Bohol province last year, before closing the church that had been a witness to the growth of faith among Piddigueos and the towns neighboring communities.

But the bishop said he was hoping that the churchs closure would be temporary as he asked parishioners to pray and work together for its possible restoration.

On Sunday, hundreds of churchgoers from Piddig and its neighboring towns attended the last Mass at the church before its official decommissioning at 8:30 a.m.

Fr. Joey Ranjo, spokesperson of the Diocese of Laoag, said the church would remain closed even for other church rites, like baptism, weddings and burial.

Ranjo said the old building would be kept for its historical value but be declared off limits.

Piddig residents said the church would remain a part of their community because the structure was a witness to every Catholics ritefrom birth to deathin this town.

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After 204 yrs, Ilocos town church shuts doors for good

By Adegbenro Adebanjo

The founder of The Synagogue Church of all Nations, Temitope Joshua,popularly known as T.B. Joshua, has described the victims of last Friday's building collapse in the church as "martyrs of the Kingdom of God."

In an official statement issued by the church, Wednesday, Mr. Joshua also denied claims that the church had not cooperated with government agencies during search and rescue operations.

"Since the day of this incident, The Synagogue Church of All Nations, its members and partners, have worked in collaboration with the Nigerian, South African and other nations' authorities to ensure that survivors are rescued, attended to with the best medical treatment, cared for in the most humane and hospitable manner and reunited with their families, while those who passed on- martyrs of the Kingdom of God - are retrieved, identified and treated respectfully," Mr. Joshua said.

"Amongst those we are working hand-in-hand with are: The Federal Government of Nigeria, the Government of the Republic of South Africa, Lagos State Government, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the Lagos State Ministry of Health - doctors and nurses, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), the Red Cross, the Nigeria Police Force and various Non-governmental and humanitarian organizations and construction and engineering corporations."

A five-storey building inside the church's premises at Ikotun, Lagos, collapsed last Friday as three additional floors were being added to the original two-storey structure.

The Lagos State government has said that it is investigating whether the church obtained building approval before it began the construction.

As at Wednesday night, the death toll had risen to 80 dead and 131 rescued, according to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa announced that 67 South Africans perished in the building collapse. The South African authorities also cited the church's non-cooperation with its officials as one of their greatest challenges.

While Mr. Joshua did not address the claims on whether or not the church obtained government approval for the collapsed building, he emphasised that the church had "provided assistance" to rescue agencies.

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Nigeria: Church Collapse Dead Are 'Martyrs' - TB Joshua

Scene of the collapsed buiding | credits: File photo

THE collapse on Friday of a six-storey building at Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos, was a triple tragedy. Not only were lives and property destroyed, it also demonstrated the failure of state institutions to protect citizens by simple adherence to rules. Worse, it exposed the prevailing culture of impunity as demonstrated in the bizarre reaction of church officials.

The tragedy was only the latest in frequent building collapses in the country. According to press reports, the six-storey building suddenly caved in, burying hundreds of persons in the rubble. Conflicting accounts say the four upper floors were still under construction and that neighbours had noticed it sway in recent times, claims that can only be established by a thorough investigation.

But the human cost is undeniable and its true extent is still unfolding. Latest figures by the National Emergency Management Agency indicate that 70 corpses, many of them foreigners and mostly women, had been recovered by Wednesday, while 131 had been rescued alive, including a 45-year-old woman who survived after being trapped four days under the rubble.

The Lagos State government cannot escape censure for this tragedy. For a state that has suffered numerous building collapses in recent years, the Synagogue tragedy, except investigations uncover deliberate sabotage, is a ringing indictment of the inadequacy of its building control and monitoring enforcement. It calls into question its capacity to ensure strict compliance with its building codes and the efficiency of its agencies to monitor and prevent such disasters. The building was being built in full public view at the densely populated Ikotun area of the city and effective monitoring by physical planning and building control officials ought to have noticed and acted accordingly.

Unless they change their narratives, the General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Abimbola Animashaun, and the officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, have told reporters that the church did not have approval to add three floors to the original two-storey building, a grave infraction. We have investigated and found that they (SCOAN) had no approval for the additional structures, Animashaun told reporters at the scene. The state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Planning, Olutoyin Ayinde, added, We have no proof that the church had permit to add to the existing structure. LSBCA and the Council of Registered Engineers have commenced investigations but, already, preliminary findings show that the church may have tough questions to answer. Requests to SCOAN to show the approvals have not been met.

The behaviour of the church officials has been bizarre and sickening. Reports say that, rather than quickly mobilise help, church members were hostile to rescuers and indeed initially prevented neighbours and officials from fully securing the disaster site. Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, said, The church members have been very aggressive and hostile to us; they attacked us and we had to withdraw our services. I was attacked; officials of LSBCA and the general manager of LASEMA were also attacked There were also reports of attacks on journalists and smashing of cameras.

Confronted with such a tragedy, even the conduct of the head of the church, Temitope Joshua, was not initially helpful. First, he and his members sought to downplay the number of dead, giving the figures as only three, and later, as the bodies piled up, less than 10, as if the death of even one person is acceptable in the face of suspicions that the church might have been careless. South Africa alone has since lamented that it lost 67 of its nationals in the disaster.

Joshua added a fresh twist by showing a video clip of an aircraft purportedly hovering over the building shortly before its collapse and alleged sabotage and threats against the church and his person. Although this sounds rather diversionary, investigators should examine all angles to unravel the cause or causes of the collapse and with a firm resolve to punish all those found culpable, to prevent the frequent collapses.

Experts say buildings collapse due to use of low quality building materials, incompetent artisans, weak supervision, non-compliance with specifications/standards, poor design, poor maintenance and weak foundations. More crucially, corruption and laxity at state and local levels allow builders to erect structurally weak buildings that may eventually end up collapsing when subjected to natural or man-made stress.

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The Synagogue building collapse

Sixty-seven South Africans have been killed and scores injured in the collapse of a building in the compound of a Lagos Pentecostal church last week, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said.

"This is a particularly difficult time for South Africa. Not in the recent history of our country have we had this large number of our people die in one incident outside the country," Zuma said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The whole nation shares the pain of the mothers, fathers, daughters and sons who have lost their loved ones."

The guest house, under construction in the compound belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, headed by "Prophet" T B Joshua, collapsed on Friday while three extra stories were being added to its existing two floors.

Local emergency services put the total number killed in the collapse in the Ikotun neighbourhood of Lagos at 61 on Tuesday.

There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the numbers.

Meanwhile South Africans expressed their shock and outrage over social media, asking government officials why it had taken so long for the details to emerge.

Clayson Monyela, South Africa's head of Public Diplomacy, said over twitter that numbers took time to emerge because the team in Nigeria were not getting the cooperation they needed.

Monyela also said the death toll could rise.

South African Department of International Relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete said in a statement on Monday that "at least five South African church tour groups were at the Synagogue at the time of the collapse".

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S Africans killed in Nigeria church collapse

- Hillsview Community Church in Damascus celebrates 100 years

In the late 1800s, a group of families with Swedish ancestry arrived in a heavily wooded area known as the Damascus community.

Led by pioneer men named Tillstrom, Schedeen and Gran, they founded and erected a house of worship that became not only the cornerstone of their faith but a comforting and unifying presence in their adopted homeland.

Today, 100 years later, Hillsview Community Church stands as a legacy to its original founders. It has maintained a ministry that feeds the souls of not only its members, but the surrounding community as well.

It has been said that We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, said Pastor Michael Conrad. The privileges, structure and ministries that we enjoy today are because of those faithful church goers who listened to the call of the Lord. When you are a pastor of a 100-year-old church, you know that you have a responsibility to sustain as well as rejuvenate the ministry that was initiated by those who came before you.

Hillsview is a member of the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of America, a Christian denomination born from a splinter within the Lutheran Church during the mid-1880s. Swedish immigrants felt the Lutherans were straying from basic teachings of the Bible and founded their own church, the Swedish Mission Friends, in the Midwest in 1885.

The group of Swedish immigrants who arrived in the Damascus area in the late 1880s came from communities where organized church work was common. The fertile lands here may have been favorable to farming, but not so much for travel to neighboring churches for worship services.

They found that the condition of the roads was such that in the winter, the mud sometimes reached the hubs of their buggies, church historical records say. And in the summer, they had to cope with dust. These conditions restricted their visiting other churches, hence they began meeting weekly in various homes in the community.

But the ever-present need for a sanctuary of their own led a group of 22 settlers to form the Mission Church of Damascus in 1914. Among those who penned their names in the churchs original ledger as charter members were pioneers Ernest Schedeen and Viola Tillstrom. Largely credited as the founding father of the church is Olaf Gran, whose descendants are still active participants of the church. Construction on the Mission Church of Damascus began in the summer of 1914. It was built entirely with volunteer labor and on land donated by church member Lewis Rodlun. Dedication services were held Aug. 8, 1915.

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A nod to the past

A celebration honoring Hillsview Community Churchs first 100 years will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. The public is welcome to attend the celebration that will include music, memories, food and refreshments.

Hillsview Community Church was one of the first churches in the Boring/Damascus community. Originally started in 1914 by Swedish immigrants, many current Hillsview members are descendents of these founders.

Though services were originally held in Swedish, said current Pastor Michael Conrad, Hillsview has always spoken the language of Christs love to our community.

Hillsviews commitment to the youth of Damascus has been an important part of its legacy through special events such as Vacation Bible schools, community carnivals, Bairds Puppet Shows and chalk drawings. In 1966, a preschool and a kindergarten was opened to the public, one of the first in the area, and currently a Montessori Preschool operates on the church premises.

The church also partners with Snow Cap, an organization that provides food, clothing, advocacy and other services to the poor, and Angel Tree, a prison ministry that reaches out to the children of inmates and their families during the Christmas season.

In continuation of its tradition worldwide, Hillsview Community Church is currently supporting missionary work in Ecuador, China and other parts of Asia. It also has partnered with other churches in Damascus over the years, holding joint services on special occasions and co-sponsoring events such as The Sports Camp, a program that was held at Hillsview this summer and attracted more than 150 children.

The original church building was just west of the current church, built in the late 1970s, when much of the construction was donated by the volunteer labor of church members. Some of the stained-glass windows and the church bell from the original church were installed at the present church.

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Church celebrates century of ministry

LAGOS, Nigeria, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A Christian church in Lagos, Nigeria, collapsed Friday, killing 44 people.

A two-story guesthouse at The Synagogue, Church of All Nations was undergoing a construction project to add three more levels to the building when it collapsed, Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, told CNN.

About 130 people were pulled alive from the rubble of the fallen building.

The rescue of trapped people was hampered by church members who refused to allow emergency workers access to the site.

"The church members were very aggressive and tried attacking emergency responders," Farinloye said.

The church is run by televangelist T.B. Joshua, who is called The Prophet.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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Nigerian church collapses killing 44