Dear Sanctuary Family, 

By now, you have probably heard of the fire raging around the church campus last night, called the Parmer Lane Fire in the media. Around 6:15pm, a wildfire was suddenly sparked near the Bexley Apartments on Parmer, right by the ARA retail center. We had music rehearsal last night, and my wife and I were driving by on Parmer just as it started, before the first fire truck even arrived. We could easily see that the fire was spreading in the direction of the church. We notified the prayer team and called for prayer from other churches. In total, the fire covered 50 acres, and ran from those apartments at Parmer to directly across the road from the church, on the opposite side of 1431. 

Initially the fire stayed contained to the grassy & wooded area immediately surrounding the apartments, but the wind picked up and accelerated the spread. What we initially thought was a controlled burn by the fire department yesterday evening was not!  The fire jumped, burning woods and grass only 50 feet from our parking lot, at the county road that leads to Brushy Creek. It then jumped across 8 lanes of traffic to burn woods across 1431 at Krienke Ranch Road. Yet nothing touched our property!  ONLY GOD!!!! 

We remained at the building monitoring the situation, and were evacuated by the fire department just before 10pm. Our team grabbed all the electronics and equipment we could, and after we evacuated, my wife and I continued to monitor from the adjacent parking lot at the Family ER.  

Winds continued to pick up and changed direction, moving the fire in the direction of the church. Around midnight, everything sparked again and it was getting closer and hotter. Flames were shooting up to 60 feet high and embers were dropping in our parking lot. It seemed imminent that the fire would reach the church. But God stopped the winds and we made it through the night — Praise God!   

I went to the building this morning to assess the situation, and there is no fire damage to the building. The interior of the church is smoky, so we have air scrubbers running right now. We will need to assess next steps for restoring air quality to be able to safely use the building. We will also have to reinstall all our equipment once the smoke is abated inside. 

At the time of this email, the fire is 60% contained. The fire has destroyed one apartment building as a total loss, and there is severe damage to three other buildings. Due to the close proximity of the fire, it will not be safe for us to have church service onsite until the fire is completely contained. For that reason, church will be canceled tonight, and we will continue to update you as the week progresses regarding Sunday’s service. 

Thank you for your faithful prayers for the church last night. Let’s please continue to pray for the complete containment of this fire, that there would be no additional loss. Pray also for the safety of our first responders whose swift, amazing work ensured that there was no loss of life. And please, let’s pray for our neighbors who lost everything in the buildings that were destroyed or damaged. 

We are forever grateful to God for His hand of protection!  The attached picture is from this morning and the attached video was from last night just before midnight.  What a miracle-working God we serve! 

Thank you again for your prayers. 

With gratitude, 

Pastor Mel