Update from First United Methodist Church, Portland

From Senior Pastor, Larry McRorey

Dear Friends,

I have just received word that upon further inspection, our church campus has suffered significant structural and water damage....and not the office building. It appears the Day School building will be a total loss as the roof has been ripped off and there is significant physical and water damage to the interior.

The church has also received significant water damage with most of the interior being flooded. Many of the roof panels in the foyer are down. Furthermore, there remains the high probability that Harvey will continue to dump massive amounts of rainfall over our area for the next few days.

Conference disaster response teams and emergency personnel are all en route to our area. However, and as it should be, resources are focusing on the areas to our east with Rockport being especially devastated. The pictures and videos coming out are heartbreaking. No doubt, we will all be called into action to help our sisters and brothers in this time of need and difficulty. We are thankful there does not appear to be any loss of life in our immediate area and considering all things, Portland has much to be grateful for.

I will share that our church leadership has already and will continue to act in the best interest of our church campus and future ministry in our community. We are in contact with folks to find a suitable location to hold worship for the next couple of weeks or so and we will find a workable solution for the resumption of the day school as well. It is times like this that we come together in remarkable and grace filled ways and show the world what human capacity is all about. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and as more inspections are done, we will post accordingly.

At present, power is still out and clean up has begun. Roads in and Portland are passable. Moderate damage being reported. Keep praying folks and we will post ways in which we can provide assistance to those most in need. Blessings to you all. Pastor Larry