The congregation of Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church is desperately holding onto what's left of their church, the first church built on Fort Myers Beach.
Hurricane Ian brought in 11 feet of storm surge into the church and destroyed everything in its path. The surge washed through the sanctuary and the fellowship hall, known as Silver Hall, and the connecting patio.
“The Gulf side was wood frame construction and it shredded, pulverized, all that then used that as a battering ram and smashed through our facilities and went on through Silver Hall and took out all the windows. The walls remained in there, they were concrete block, but all the windows went out and everything's destroyed in there as well,” Interim Pastor Reverend Dr. James “Jim” Berger said.
Three grand pianos were washed away and are yet to be found, sections of the roof were damaged, and the surge that went under the sanctuary came up through the floors and blew the floor out. Every bible, hymnal, chair, and pulpits are gone, along with their newly purchased audio and visual equipment to livestream the services.
The church's original bell was found in the rubble, as well as half of a clamshell that they use in baptisms. A memorial garden is beside the church and the plaques of those interred there were salvageable.
City Hall is next door and cleared the church parking lot to park their service equipment after it was safe to do so. Notably among the debris was a cast iron bathtub that was washed into the sanctuary and someone’s deck landed in their patio, which was roughly 20-feet-by-15-feet .
The congregation has been worshipping with Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers.
As of now, the Chapel by the Sea hasn’t received the 50% ruling. According to the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce website, “The 50% Rule is a regulation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that prohibits improvements to a structure exceeding 50% of its market value unless the entire structure is brought into full compliance with current flood regulations."
Elder Diane Means serves as the clerk of session and is a part of the task force to determine what the future holds for Chapel by the Sea.
Diane Means' job requires her to keep track of legal documentation, every session, every meeting of the congregation, and who joins and who leaves the church. She lost her physical historical data to the storm.
"The big, huge five-foot-by-seven-foot, four-inch walls solid, metal safe, was pushed out of the building and lost along with everything else. That's where most of my historical data is, in the sea somewhere,” she said.
All Means has left is a few notebooks that she had at home because she was working on reports. She is relieved that Denise Armstrong, their office administrator, stored about 80% of their documents in the cloud, but the artifacts inside the safe are long gone.
“It's kind of painful to know how much we've lost and how much history we've lost to the sea,” she said. Means has gone back to the site multiple times and cries every time. “As a member, to have seen the place that meant so much in terms of my personal faith journey worshiping there, serving people, doing our missions out of there, gone. There's no words to describe it until you set foot on the property.”
Armstrong and Means have been working on the FEMA grants and Small Business Association grants.
Elder Tom Means oversees personnel, is co-chair of the facilities committee, and is a part of the newly instated task force. He says they're in the process of getting the commercial value established before they make their next move.
“One of the other things that we're concerned about is we house a homeless ministry for Community Cooperative,” he said. “...In current time, there's nothing available for them on the beach of that nature.”
Chapel by the Sea fed the homeless community on the beach year around prior to Ian. They provided showers, restrooms, clothes, a hot breakfast, and a meal to take with them to-go.
Berger says they’re unsure if it’s feasible to rebuild yet. They’re waiting for an appraiser to inspect the property and are working with an architect and a general contractor, Mike Resnick of Canterbury construction.
When Hurricane Charley hit in 2004, the distinguished dolphin window was blown out and Resnick rebuilt it for the church. The window was intact after Ian.
“As soon as I saw that that window was still intact. I said, ‘Okay, get Mike on the phone, get him on retainer as our general contract, because his stuff is going to stand up,’” Berger said.
The dolphins are symbolic of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
“It’s representative of the fact that God’s still in place, watching over the beach,” Tom Means said.
Berger is saddened that week-by-week, the congregation dwindles. Many members lived on the beach and lost their homes or live in condos that are now uninhabitable.
When the new sanctuary was finished in 1985, Berger says there were 1,200 members and a huge youth program. As Fort Myers Beach moves from a residential town to retirees and vacation rentals, he has seen the town dramatically changed.
Tom Means says the average age of the congregation is 82. Hurricane Ian’s destruction has caused the congregation to disperse, and some now reside in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Canada and other parts of Florida.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diane Means says that the church would see 300 people every Sunday during the months of January, February and March because of all the vacationers on the beach.
“It's going to be a different kind of island,” Berger said. “It'll be a different kind of community out there.”
As the town of Fort Myers Beach rebuilds, all structures have new standards and codes to adhere to, including 11 feet of elevation. The style of the town will be forever changed.
“The week that storm hit, our pastor search committee was talking to a candidate about coming to the church, about moving here. And in the middle of their conversation, bam, Ian just destroyed everything,” Berger said.
With limited housing available among all the destruction that remains on Fort Myers Beach, it’s been difficult for the church to bring in a new minister.
Donations to their recovery efforts can be made on GoFundMe or on their website.
Before Berger’s departure, the congregation will have a Celebration of Healing and Hope on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2:30 p.m. behind Silver Hall.
This story was produced for the Senior Capstone course in the FGCU Journalism Program. Hayley Lemery can be reached at hklemery9681@eagle.fgcu.edu