Cape Coral church picking up the pieces after massive fire

Calvary Connection Ministries is unrecognizable after a massive fire swept through a Cape Coral Complex on Monday.

“I know God will take care of it,” said Chad Hitchcock, the pastor at Calvary Connection ministry. “Everything will work out with that. There’s a lot of memories that hit home. We spent a lot of time crying there’s no doubt.”

Hitchcock said this church is more than a place of worship to him.

“My mom, we had her funeral here. I got married here,” he said.

Hitchcock and WINK News reporter Asha Patel walked around to survey the damage left behind.

Almost every item was covered in ashes or burned, though a few were left untouched by the flames.

“My wife’s dad made that. It’s still standing there. They had to make it special for me because of my height. You can see there is a charred Bible there, but pages still look intact,” said Hitchcock. “That is so overwhelming.”

Down the street is the First Congregational Church of Cape Coral.

Pastor Mark McAnlis, of the First Congregational Church Cape Coral, offered his card, saying Hitchcock has a place to worship in the meantime.

“It makes me feel extremely grateful for that ’cause we didn’t know where we were going to worship from this point,” said Hitchcock, “knowing that there’s outreach, that’s awesome.”

Asked why he is willing to open up his church to another congregation, McAnlis responded, “I was thinking to myself, ‘What would I do? What would I do if this church burned to the ground? We have our entire congregation. What do you do?’ so I wanted to give him an off-ramp. He is literally my brother in Christ.”

Hitchcock is grateful for the support, but he does have to think about what to do next, and it won’t be easy.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have insurance to help out with this at this point,” said Hitchcock. “It’s gonna be day by day, at this point.”

The cause of the fire remains a mystery.

According to the fire marshal, it could take days or even months to figure out the exact origin and what started the fire.