News
Built on a Rock
June 17, 2024
by LaRayne Topp
Angry tornados, a lone place of worship, and the whispers of a gracious God left an ELCA Church in Pilger, Nebraska, as a place of sanctuary in a world turned upside down and sideways. Ten years ago, on June 16, 2014, four destructive tornadoes charged through Northeast Nebraska, eliminating farm buildings from the landscape around Pilger, Stanton, Wakefield and Wisner, along with 40 percent of the homes from the heart of Pilger. The storms also stole two lives.
Homes lay in rubble. Trees were twisted toothpicks. Grain bins served as giant, sharp projectiles, slamming into buildings and searing off roofs. In Pilger, the business district was wiped out, leaving only several usable public buildings, one of them St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. It was amazing the church had survived at all, only a half a block from the destruction.
Although the building stood, glass shards from the glass doors and windows, branches and debris littered the interior. However, the communion rail, separating the chancel from the rest of the sanctuary, also divided kept destruction at bay. The cross and candelabra rested on the altar; the pages of the open Bible hadn’t been mussed. Paraments hung from the pulpit and lectern, the bottom fringe remaining untangled. All was still.
Until one woman heard a gentle whisper. Several weeks after the tornadoes hit, Val Petersen was awakened one night to the sound of God’s gentle voice. “Open a coffee shop,” it said. And so she and her husband did. Not wanting to tie the coffee shop to a particular denomination, the Petersens named it The Rock Shop.
Previous St. Peter’s Pastors Ruth and Gary Larson had donated a mammoth granite rock to the congregation before they left for the mission field, chiseled with the words, You are the Christ. Symbolic of shelter and safety, the rock served as a reminder of Christ’s words to Apostle Peter: And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Indeed the tornado hadn’t budged the massive stone one inch.
Relief organizations’ meetings were held at the Rock Shop, at the village, county, state and federal level. It was also open for survivors and volunteers to meet. Conversations gradually became happier than at first. As businesses built back up in town, The Rock Shop was discontinued to turn its business over to them.
After ten years, 20 new homes have sprung up in town. More than 200 trees have been replanted, and numerous businesses and civil buildings rebuilt.
In January of 2022, St. Peter’s congregation held its last service. However, the building has been gifted to the local Historical Society with the understanding the sanctuary remain intact. To date five funerals, one wedding and a quilt show have taken place at The Rock Museum and Chapel, with historical items on display throughout the rest of the building.
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church has served the community since 1900, providing a lifeline for the community in a time of deep distress, and will continue to showcase its history along with that of the area for many years to come.