Lightning strike crumbles Episcopal church steeple in Iowa

Posted by Kendall Harmon

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.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * General Interest • Weather

4 Comments
Posted August 10, 2010 at 8:19 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Undergroundpewster wrote:

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.

August 10, 10:54 am | [comment link]
2. Steven in Falls Church wrote:

Here is a photo of the building pre-lightning strike, FYI.

August 10, 5:32 pm | [comment link]
3. Jim the Puritan wrote:

#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.

August 10, 7:04 pm | [comment link]
4. Pageantmaster [KJS to Coventry] wrote:

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.

August 10, 10:19 pm | [comment link]
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