Hurricane Michael ripped through the Florida panhandle as the strongest hurricane to hit the US in more than 50 years and the third-strongest in history. The eye made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, around 12:30PM local time yesterday. It hit as a high Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 155 mph (249 km/h). It was stronger than Hurricane Andrew that hit Florida in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans in 2005. Fortunately, preliminary indications are that the damage is not as severe as those two storms.

This morning, there are hundreds of thousands of people without power and widespread damage on the Florida panhandle and South Georgia. It has weakened, but is still dumping a lot of rain on thousands of brothers and sisters in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

We have been in touch with many of the believers in the path of the storm. Some have received quite a bit of wind and rain damage to their homes, but by the grace of God, we have not received any reports of injuries.

The saints in Florida and southern Georgia appreciate your prayers as they dig out from this storm and begin the rebuilding process.