Photos courtesy of Calvary Chapel Westside Maui in Lahaina

On August 14, thousands stood in line at a distribution site for the Maui, HI, Police Department’s newly launched placard program, which promised placards that would afford residents and others temporary access in and out of West Maui after it was devastated by wildfires that began August 8.

Steve Santos, pastor of Calvary Chapel Westside (CCW) Maui in Lahaina, Maui, was one of those waiting for a placard that day. Over the past several weeks, he lost access to his church building and the internet and had lost power for nine days; but after witnessing even greater losses that day, he gained the opportunity to share the Lord with many people he’d never met before.

“I got to pray with people that otherwise I never would have,” Pastor Steve recalled. “People are open right now. I’m excited to see what God’s going to do here.”

The opportunities to pray with the people of Maui that day were part of a string of countless chances that Pastor Steve and CCW has had to minister to a broken community. The fires caused immense suffering—taking at least 97 lives, as of a September 16 count, with the Lahaina fire destroying an estimated 2,207 homes and businesses and 2,170 acres, according to The Pacific Disaster Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But God has used Pastor Steve and others from his church to comfort those in the community and reach many of them with the Word.

Meeting Practical & Spiritual Needs

Amid the chaos that ensued after the devastation, Pastor Steve said the church was able to connect with other Calvary Chapels and believers to start meeting needs—physical, emotional, and spiritual. As of August 26, Calvary Westside Maui had a plan underway to use donated funds to purchase many thousands of dollars of gift cards to be handed out to those in need at local distribution centers. “We wanted to help people to be able to buy clothing in sizes that fit and foods that their families wanted rather than depending solely on donated goods,” Steve explained. Additionally, in connection with another church that contacted him through his daughter, who lives in Colorado, Steve was able to pass out generators when power was down on their side of the island. And currently, Calvary Chapel Westside is involved in financially helping those displaced—with everything from paying mortgages (on burned homes) to helping with people’s rent, and a wide assortment of other bills that keep coming in despite people’s lack of work and income.

“People were chasing us down as we were driving down the road with a truckload of generators, [asking], ‘Can we have one?’ and ‘How much are they?’” Steve recounted, adding that he and his team would then respond that the generators were free. “Every person we gave a generator to, they were so thankful. [And] everywhere along the way, there was a chance to pray with somebody, whether it was National Guard guys or a policeman. Every encounter is an opportunity to give people hope in a time when things look completely hopeless. And far beyond the power we could offer with a generator was, and still is, the power and hope that comes with the name of Jesus.”

Pastor Steve and his wife Kim have also opened their home to family and friends who have lost everything in the fire and needed a place to stay, and their backyard has become a temporary meeting spot for Calvary Westside. Though the church’s building was not destroyed in the fire, access is restricted due to safety concerns after lead, asbestos, and other chemicals were released during the fire. Steve said he has heard estimates from multiple experts that the clean-up process alone could take between two to three years. And he noted an additional hurdle: While the church has been able to hold Sunday services at Wahikuli Wayside Park and Wednesday services at the Santos’ home, it was difficult to get this message out for weeks due to the lack of internet.

Even so, God worked through this challenge, bringing new faces to the services. “One guy showed up that I’ve never seen before, a local guy, and he goes, ‘Oh, you were my bartender,’” revealed Steve, who worked locally as a bartender prior to becoming a pastor more than 30 years ago. “His whole family is there now—this brand-new local family is a part of the church. So, God’s doing something.”

A Still Small Voice

As Steve has shared with others, one message he has emphasized is that just as God couldn’t be found in the destruction that Elijah saw in the Book of 1 Kings, while he was in hiding as Jezebel plotted to kill him, God wasn’t the cause of the fires that destroyed Lahaina.

“This is the perfect picture there in 1 Kings, that after the destruction, Elijah went out and saw as the rocks were split from the earthquake and the wind was blowing so hard, that God speaks,” Steve explained. “I know He’s going to speak through this. He already has been. My heart in all of this is: How is God going to give us a voice in the midst of this to speak to more people and bring the Gospel?”

He continued, “Laying on my living room floor with everyone in the house fast asleep, I cried out to God at 4 a.m. on that morning after the fire—knowing that our town was gone, looking like a bomb had gone off, and many, many lives lost as well: Lord, I know that You are good, but I need a word from You. Your Word is eternal, and that’s what I need for those that are hurting, angry, completely devastated having lost their family and home, their town. … And the Lord spoke so clearly in my heart: ‘I was not in the wind or the fire.’ Immediately I recalled the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 19. God is so good; He is so faithful!”

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11-12

“After that God told Elijah to ‘go back the way that you came and there will be leaders to work with you along the way and 7,000 others with your same heart’ (paraphrased)! And again, God has been faithful, with leaders like Pastor Jack Hibbs [who] reached out right with encouragement, pastors Bill Stonebraker, JD Farag, and so many others—giving, encouraging, and praying for us.”

Steve acknowledged, “I have received hundreds and hundreds of emails and text messages, etc. from so many pastors from Calvary Chapels (true brothers!) and from so many visitors over the past 30 years that call CCW their Maui home church. I don’t know how I will ever be able to catch up and thank them all with all that is still going on. If you are reading this and are one [that] God has sent to us ‘going back the way we came,’ thank you and I love you.”

God at Work in the Devastation

Recent years have been difficult for the church’s ministry, Steve noted. “Without question the last three years of ministry have the hardest of our 30 years, with our oldest daughter fighting stage 4 breast cancer in the beginning of COVID-19, a criminal lawsuit against me for teaching and worshiping in the park, and now this. But what seems impossible with man is all well within our God’s reach. And as much as my daughter Nicole has been healed of her stage 4 cancer, just coming up on a year of clear scans, our good God has a plan for the healing of Lahaina.”

As God has been working in the devastation, Steve also relayed several ongoing challenges and prayer needs. He requested that believers pray for their dear friend Perry Allen from CCW Maui, whose wife, Laurie, sustained severe burn injuries and, after nearly two months of treatment in the hospital, passed away on September 29.

Laurie was at home when the August 8 wildfire began quickly approaching her neighborhood; while evacuating, she also helped her neighbors evacuate. As she attempted to drive to safety, Laurie’s car became engulfed in flames. Laurie escaped from the car with her elderly neighbors, but they couldn’t run. Finally, God told Laurie to run, and she did until she was burning and tackled by a retired firefighter who saved her and suffered severe burns himself. Laurie was flown to the hospital in Honolulu, where she was reunited with her husband. Pastor Steve, who was able to visit Laurie in the burn unit, said over 70% of her body was burned in the fire.

“Laurie told us the whole story and said that she would do it all again. ‘That’s who we are as Christians,’ she said through her bandages,” Steve reported.

“Pray that God would lead [Perry] and that he would follow the Lord closely,” Steve requested. “What we should do is wait on the Lord and hear His heart, His direction. And I would echo into the idea of, that’s what thousands of people are going through right now. There are still thousands of people suffering loss."

Prayer Requests

Additionally, the church has numerous other prayer requests. “It’s been two months and there’s still deep grieving over it all; they are still finding remains as the rubble is being removed, PTSD for some is extreme every time the wind starts to pick up or at the smell of smoke, and there’s still uncertainty for thousands concerning ‘where we’re going to be, and will we have a place to sleep next week?’” Steve declared.

“Be praying for where God would have [our church], a place for us, because that’s what we need in the early foreseeable future to be able to minister to people. We can’t do all that God will want to do out of our home. Every day seems to present something new and things that we haven’t foreseen or thought of. [Pray] just for wisdom, each step along the way.”

Steve concluded, “On Wednesday, August 9, every believer on West Maui woke up living in the mission field. Sometimes the only peace you can have in a place and time like this is knowing that God had planned that we would be here. He wasn’t surprised by the fire—but has a plan and will clearly speak in these days after if we will keep our eyes on Him and listen for His voice.”

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Learn more about Calvary Chapel Westside at calvarywestside.com

To help Perry Allen, visit GoFundMe at Perry and Laurie Allen-Maui Fire Victims

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© 2023 Calvary Chapel Magazine (CCM). All rights reserved. Articles or photographs may not be reproduced without the written permission of CCM. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.® Used by permission.