GAMBER, Md. — Prayers at the normal Wednesday night youth group gathering at Faith Family Church in Gamber with a twist, after what many describe as a tornado touching down in the tree line at the back of its property.
“We just started rallying all the kids up and making sure that they were safe and kind of securing the building as much as possible and all of that happened so quickly and then we started seeing a very large funnel drop,” said Church Administrator Deb Thompson, “I mean it was not three minutes after the alarm."
The prayer meeting had just wrapped up, and some parents arriving to pick up their middle and high schoolers nearly got caught outside in the storm.
“They’re just like squeezed into that nook as far as they can,” another church member recalled, “She was beating on the door, because the door was already locked. It was late.”
But in a matter of seconds, which may have seemed like an eternity, the storm had passed leaving a 50-yard path of destruction.
“We did good,” said Joe Vogelpohl, a church staff member, “We didn’t even hear any wind in the church itself and less than a hundred yards from the church.”
And many of the faithful are convinced they benefitted from some divine intervention.
“There’s nothing by chance. No. God was clearly taking care of us last night. Good or bad. No matter what happens. He’s always taking care of us."
Folks in the church also say they took in a handful of total strangers—-people who were driving along route 32 and saw the tornado coming and just pulled into their lot seeking shelter.
