Methodist Church steeple blessed after perilous journey

Tuesday, Lighthouse United Methodist Church blessed their wooden steeple cross in an outdoor ceremony led by the Rev. Daphne Johnson, the church’s senior pastor. 

At the ceremony, the Rev. Johnson not only blessed the newly painted cross, but also asked for prayers for the whole island. A group of about two dozen church members came for the mid-afternoon ceremony.

“Today, as we place this cross back into service, we ask God’s continued blessings upon it, Lighthouse United Methodist and all the ministries and missions God has placed before us,” said Johnson.

The attendees then said prayers, saying, “May God’s blessings upon this cross reign over us.”

The cross, along with the entire church, was damaged during Hurricane Ian. They had hoped that the reinstallation would be earlier, as the steeple construction had been finished on Lighthouse United Methodist Church the weekend before. But the steeple cross, which had been taken out for repair and repainting by the contractor, got in an accident that was nearly fatal for the driver.

“They took it off to make sure it was in good shape,” said the Rev. Daphne Johnson, the church’s senior pastor. “We pulled it off. We wanted to make sure what shape it would be in.”

But when David Vlass, a contractor from the firm Dynamic National, took the cross back to his office for repairs, he was sideswiped. The accident rolled his truck on Interstate 75. “He was not hurt,” said Johnson. “The truck was totaled, the cross was fine, and so was he.”

It turned out that the contractor was worried about what would have happened to the historic cross in a totaled car.

“He went back later that evening to retrieve it,” said Johnson. 

The Rev. Johnson announced the miracle to the congregation just after the incident at prayer time three weeks ago.

In the rebuilding, contractors had to replace metal roofing for both of the church’s steeples. The northernmost lower steeple has a lightning rod. The cross sits over the belfry to the church, at the corner of 3rd and Gilchrist.

The steeple is not the only one on the island that needed repair after Hurricane Ian.

At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, their damaged steeple cross went back up on November 8. The new one is brushed aluminum, designed to withstand winds.

An earlier wooden cross that stood atop the church decades before Ian is used during Lent. It had been hit by lightning during a sermon by the Rev. Julian Cave, and was knocked off the steeple. The legend, according to the Rev. Michelle Robertshaw, is that few liked the sermon.

Across the street at First Baptist Church, they are still working on Ian repairs for their steeple and main church building.