After lightning strike, the lone member of a St. Paul church is praying to rebuild

A lightning strike set ablaze the steeple of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul on Thursday evening, but the congregation wasn’t scrambling Friday to figure out where to hold Holy Week services.

That’s because the Frogtown neighborhood church has no pastor or congregation. Instead, it’s home for William Hanson — and anyone who wants to walk in off the street to talk about faith.

Friday was the first day in years the church doors were locked, Hanson said, after city inspectors ordered the building closed following the fire. Holding a Bible covered in black duct tape, he surveyed the damage on the ground: the metal roof of the steeple, and the cross that once sat on top, along with pieces of charred wood.

The St. Paul Fire Department kept the blaze from spreading past the steeple, Hanson said, and put down enough plastic tarps to limit water damage. But he wasn’t sure when he will be allowed back inside, and how exactly he’ll pay to mend the hole in the roof left by the missing steeple.

“I’m going to button it up as best as possible,” he said, adding that he’ll need help.

Hanson, who has lived on the property for 14 years, said he bought the church just before it was set to be demolished with money his father gave him to start his life over.

“My dad sent me $17,000 because he was proud I got out of prison,” said Hanson said, whose family launched the Von Hanson’s meat market chain. “He should have been prouder if I hadn’t gone to prison.”

Hanson developed a deep Christian faith, which he said moved him to buy the condemned church, pay the back taxes and other fees to the city, and make it habitable.

At first, he said, he slept in a hammock in the yard or in his truck. Eventually, he worked with the city to permit a “parsonage” that allowed him to live in the church basement.

He kept the sanctuary doors open to all, he said. People would come in “meaning to trespass,” Hanson said, and he would engage them in conversation about Christianity.

On Friday afternoon, several people stopped to check on Hanson and offer to clean up the wreckage. He declined the help, saying the steeple debris had to remain there until fire investigators and insurance adjusters could assess what happened.

Hanson said he hopes the fire eventually will turn into a blessing for the community he’s built in the neighborhood, helping him find the necessary money for repairs and renovations. He added that he hopes enough money will come in to help his neighbors, too.