Wildfires in Paradise, CA

California is facing the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in our state’s history. In Northern California, fires have destroyed nearly 10,000 homes, leaving many displaced. Saddleback’s Disaster Relief team has already jumped into action to serve those affected, sending the first teams to serve local churches in Paradise, CA, an area devastated by the fires.

“We believe that hope is inside of people. Church is people, not a building,” shares, Stan Freitas, Pastor of Hope Church, from Paradise, CA under a smoky sky. His church saw their entire newly expanded building burn to the ground. In a symbol of the hope that they are now proclaiming to their community, the only structure left standing amidst the ashes was a wooden cross. Despite massive challenges, Hope Church has its Sunday service just days after the fire in nearby Chico. Saddleback’s teams will work with his church to reach out and rebuild, even as their congregation ministers to the hurting in their community.

Relief teams will help sift through the remains of housing, helping families recover valuables and keepsakes where possible. They are helping provide immediate assistance to the hundreds of displaced families. Hope Church continues to offer services from a borrowed space in a nearby town, refusing to be deterred from serving their church family even in loss.