The Rev. Cathi Bencken managed to crack a joke Monday after an apparent lightning strike zapped an iron cross and crumbled the steeple of Trinity Episcopal Church.
“I don’t think it was (because) of anything I said,” she said of the sermon she delivered Sunday.
Neighbors in a nearby downtown apartment told Bencken and other church leaders that lightning hit the church about 3:30 a.m.
Looking at the stats shows that lightning had already struck:
In 1998 there were 240 members with an ASA of approximately 78, but by 2008 there were 120 members with an ASA of approximately 41.
Here is a photo of the building pre-lightning strike, FYI.
#2–Couldn’t help but notice the “WRONG WAY” warning sign in front of the church, right in the middle of the Google street shot.
It is not really what I would call a steeple; more a small stone bell housing – chimney-sized, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult to restore.