LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher and Eric Tiansay

Hope and Heartache at Churches in Shadow of Terrorist Attacks

Congregations face own losses as they help others deal with theirs

New York City churches offering hope and comfort to those devastated by the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) yesterday are also facing their own personal heartache.

As congregations close to the site where thousands are feared to have died in two terrorist strikes prepared to help those awaiting information about missing loved ones, today, they were also bracing themselves for news about members and friends not heard from since the attacks.

"We have had phone calls from some who, in some cases, miraculously escaped," said Jim Cymbala, pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle. "Others we don't know...we are waiting to find out how this is all going to pan out." Many from the 6,000-member church worked at the WTC or in the area, he said.

As thousands passed the church fleeing the area on foot, church staff and volunteers passed out water and offered prayer to those shocked by the events. The church "became a place of sanctuary," Cymbala said. "People came in to pray or be talked to or ministered to."

At Glad Tidings Tabernacle, a 600-member Assemblies of God church, pastor Carl Keyes said that six members of the congregation were still missing. "There's a glimmer of hope that they're going to come in the building." Some 6,000 people attended six services held at the church yesterday.

Two members of Times Square Church who worked at the WTC miraculously escaped with minor injuries, said senior pastor Carter Conlon. The church converted its annex building into a makeshift dorm, housing about 50 people stranded in the city overnight.
The 8,000-member congregation was today preparing to provide grief counselors, at the request of police. "We want to provide comfort to the grieving, and show the love of Christ," Conlon said.

Other ministries are also responding to the need. The New York City Rescue Mission opened its phones to survivors desperate to contact friends and relatives. Convoy of Hope, Operation Blessing, The Salvation Army and the Southern Baptists were among those sending in emergency-relief supplies and workers.

Cymbala said one church member had told him she had been leaving the WTC south tower after the explosion at the other one when an announcement over the speaker system advised people to return to their place of work. But "something in her heart told her she had to get out." As she exited the building, the second plane struck her tower.

As news of the four plane hijackings and attacks in New York and at the Pentagon spread yesterday, hundreds of churches across the country hastily arranged special prayer meetings-as did Christians in other parts of the world, from Wales to Russia

In Greenland, Conn. officials at Bethany Church identified Tom McGuinness as the co-pilot of American Airlines (AA) Flight 11, the first plane to strike the WTC, the Associated Press reported. McGuinness was remembered last night during a service at the church, attended by about 600 people, many of them in AA employee uniforms. Pastor Fred Cheney said that when McGuinness' wife, Cheryl, "first heard the news, her first response was, 'My Tom is with Jesus.'"