Ron Brown, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Panama City, Fla., has put out a call for help to rebuild from the effects of Hurricane Michael. Here are a number of requests that Pastor Brown has posted. Contact information is provided below.

UPDATE: October 24, 2018

In our brief process of the long road to rebuilding our church we have already had some tremendous encouragements. Yesterday, as I mentioned the great turn out of people to take the carpet out of the Sanctuary and Sunday School Building. But what to do with the pews to protect them from the inevitable rains now that we have no roof. (Chance of rain tomorrow is near 100%). A church member has been running down options for warehouses but nothing solid had come up. Then today it all came together (Thanks Bill and to someone in the community who was generous in providing space!) Then we needed a way to transport the. Culligan provided a semi trailer in a half-hours time (Thanks Jay!). But on short notice how do you lift and transport these massive pews? Then Brian Keuski checked with his friends in the navy Dive school and 27 people from the Dive School came to move the pews (thanks Brian, Virgil and the absolutely incredible efforts of these navy school leaders and students for their herculean efforts!!!) So we started the day not knowing how to protect the pews in our sanctuary from 3 inches of rain and then during the day, within an hour in a half having a solution. And then it only took another two hours to pull of thanks to the hard working Navy divers. It was staggeringly amazing. Thanks to all who helped, and thanks most of all to God who answers prayers above all that we can ask or think! (In one of the videos – what do you do when you’ve got two extra pews that don’t fit in the truck? Why, you just pick them up and carry them through downtown Panama City to its destination.)

Source: Pastor Ron Brown’s Facebook page. See videos there.

October 24, 2018

What is our next need in the process of rebuilding our church? We need to get our social hall/fellowship hall cleared out and dried out. This space could be rebuilt relatively quickly and would provide meeting space for worship and other gatherings. But we’ve got to get the debris, wet acoustic tiles, carpet out of the building ASAP. Would any of you consider coming quickly to help us dry out this building? You can register to help through the Presbyterian Church in America Disaster Relief site: https://pcamna.org/disaster-response/storms/ If you have any questions or want to contact me directly I’m glad to talk. 423-385-4343 First Pres. members and other local Panama City people interested in helping just stop by the church at 100 East 7th Street, Panama City, FL The need is immediate.

October 23, 2018

Thanks to the many people who came out today to remove the wet carpet in our sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church of Panama City. It was a tough task moving all the pews and scraping off the old carpet. In addition to this the team got almost all the wet carpet out of the Sunday School building’s first floor which is attached to our sanctuary. Thanks to our First Pres. people who have sacrificed their time, thanks to members of Covenant Pres. Panama City who graciously helped us even as they have their own building damage, thanks to David Story and Todd Veleber who came from Tallahassee, thanks to a couple of ministers from our Presbytery who brought in supplies. Thanks to a team from out of state that heard about our need and jumped in to help! We removed tons of carpet and debris out of our church. We have tons and tons more to remove from our Sunday School Building, Social (Fellowship) Hall, other education space and our Education building built in 1915. We put a dent in the need due to willing hearts and hands. To all of you who are considering coming and helping us finish the drying out! Feel free to call me 423-385-4343 if you have a desire to come and help.

Temporary Worship Location

Dear First Presbyterian Church folks. Put the word out. We will be worshipping this Sunday (October 28th) at First Methodist Church of Panama City (Community Life Center) at 4:00p.m. The church address is 903 E 4th St
Panama City, Florida 32401. The Community Life Center is found on Business 98 (from our church go to 6th street and head east. The Community Life Center is just past the intersection of N. Cove Boulevard and business 98 not far from Bay Med Hospital. Put the word out and come worship our great God who is and will be with us!

You can follow Pastor Brown through his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ron.brown.796