TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Right across the street from Lake Ella is a church that’s been standing tall since 1968. The congregation at Saint Paul's United Methodist Church is 600 hundred members strong.
“I love this church. I love the people. Our people are just loving and giving and embracing…and very real," Rev Dr. Kandace Brooks said.
But there’s a growing problem, something that’s been brewing for two and a half years.
“We get quite a few calls when the wind is blowing and about the noise, it makes when there are different things flopping up there," says Wade Pierce, who is on the Steeple Repair Committee at the church.
The 150-foot tall steeple, a symbol of the community, was torn apart during Hurricane Michael.
And the problems keep adding up, especially every time it rains.
“The steeple itself lost a couple of panels up in the upper spire and that’s caused leaking down into the building,” Wade said about the steeple.
Now, crews are getting ready to remove and repair the steeple. A repair that will need two cranes to remove it from the foundation. The cost: more than $200,000.
A bill the church has been saving up for, and a starting point to a restoration that will bring relief to the church and the community.
A project that this congregation hopes will be complete by the end of the year.
