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United Methodists, community grieve for victims of explosion

 


United Methodists, community grieve for victims of explosion

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Photo by Ed Kosmicki, Denver Post

The Rev. John Nadasi of Paonia United Methodist Church is an EMT who was one of the first on the scene after a mountain lodge exploded.
March 23, 2005      

A UMNS Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Members of two Paonia, Colo., United Methodist churches were on the scene binding wounds and offering prayers after a March 19 explosion at a mountain lodge killed three children and wounded several others.

“Jesus Christ came to North Fork,” said the Rev. Rick Clair in his Palm Sunday message to the congregation of Crawford/Hotchkiss United Methodist Church.

Clair and the Rev. John Nadasi, pastor of Paonia United Methodist Church, were among the first to respond. Many of the 20 to 30 people at the lodge were family members gathered for a reunion.

“These people were hurt, burned up, lot of broken bones, and head traumas,” said Nadasi, a trained EMT.
 
Isaac Watkins, 3, his sister Leslie Ann Bilbrey, 12, and their cousin Jamie Marie Reade, 16, died in the explosion.  So far, investigators believe propane gas leaked from a gas tank into the lodge, settled in the basement and exploded.

“In the middle of their afternoon the whole building blew up underneath them. The news went out like wildfire,” Nadasi said.

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A Web-only image

This file image of the Electric Mountain Lodge appears on the lodge's Web site. An explosion destroyed the Colorado property.
“When I looked around and saw who was there, it was our church,” he said. Many of the trained medics and emergency personnel were members of Paonia United Methodist Church.

Nadasi said he would use the example of the community coming together to help those in need as his Maundy Thursday sermon.

“Rather than just washing each others feet we were washing the wounds, setting the broken bones of our neighbors during this Holy Week.”

Before the March 19 explosion, Clair was home preparing his Sunday morning sermon. He knew he needed to go grocery shopping but didn’t want to take a break.

“I was really glad I listened to that little voice inside,” he said. “I was working on a sermon and knew I had to go grocery shopping. I kept putting it off and putting it off until finally something just hit me real hard to go down and do it,” he said. While he was in the checkout line, the cashier told him she thought he was needed at the scene of the explosion.

“I threw the groceries in the back of the car and headed to Paonia. On the way up I called Pastor John and told him we were probably needed.”

Clair said he was impressed by the way people just put aside their egos and “did the right thing.”

“It was pretty humbling and pretty honoring to be a part of it,” he said. “It was quite an experience. I spent a lot of time with people as they came in, reassuring them that this was not God’s fault or God’s plan but that God would be there through it all.”

Both men said it was not just the United Methodist churches that responded but all churches and people in the community. Clair said one church was having a going away dinner for a member of their congregation and when they heard the news, they packed up the food and brought it to the scene.

“I am sure some of the people who were there were not believers, but whether they knew it or not they were living the hands and hearts of Christ,” Clair said.

Nadasi said the lodge was a place many locals often visited. “When you think of the back mountains of Colorado, the most scenic area in the state, that’s where this happened. They are really kind, decent people.”

Paonia United Methodist Church will be taking up donations to give to families. Anyone wishing to donate may call 970-527-4263.

“I hope all United Methodists are praying for them (the families) cause they are sure gonna need it,” Clair said. “I am convinced we give birth to our kids and they bury us-- we are not suppose to bury them. My faith is rock solid, without that I don’t know how some people can get through this sort of stuff.”

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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