Post Falls Church ravaged by a fire over the weekend, but Pastor Steve remains hopeful

Early Sunday morning, Pastor Steve Karst rounded a hill off Highway 41 to see his church engulfed in flames.

“I could see some of the flames, and I knew right then and there, it’s a massive fire,” Karst said. “So that was an emotional moment for me.”

Karst said he got a call around 4 a.m. from the director of the preschool at River Church in Post Falls saying a fire was ravaging the building. He left his home immediately upon hearing the news.

Luckily, no one was inside the church at the time, but Karst said the damage inside is extensive. He doubts they’ll be able to salvage much of anything from inside, as even though the fire didn’t destroy everything, the water used to suppress the flames caused considerable damage.

Tyrel Shaw, a deputy fire marshal with the state of Idaho, said the cause of the fire is under investigation. He had no additional comment.

The front of the massive church looks untouched, as the majority of the damage occurred on the backside of the 45,000-square-foot building where a private school called the River Tech School of Performing Arts and Technology and a Christian preschool are located. Both schools have around 75 students enrolled. The flames did reach part of the sanctuary, Karst said.

Dan Hegelund, the principal of River Tech School, said they’re currently looking at alternative buildings to continue to educate their students. The school provides education to kids from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. Performing arts, science, social studies, life skills, technology classes and more are all taught. Parents get to decide whether they want their children to go for just one day a week at a rate of $130 a month or if they want their kids to attend all five days for around $700 a month. Hegelund said all the equipment they use during the school year is completely ruined, but he’s been impressed by the influx of community support offering buildings and resources to the school. On Tuesday morning, he’s planning to tour some potential venues, and they hope to be back up and running within the next two weeks.

With about 75 students and six full-time teachers instructing a wide range of subjects, Hegelund said they’re trying to raise $50,000 to buy more equipment and supplies, and help pay teachers’ salaries.

While there’s no official word on what’s salvageable, Pete Millsap, the maintenance man for the church, estimates that at least one-third of the building is charred. He said about 75% of the damage to the building occurred within the preschool and River Tech School, although there was considerable damage to structural beams used to hold up the church.

Millsap, who joined the church in 1987 and served on the board for more than 20 years, had high praise for Karst.

He called Karst an ideal pastor and someone who’s been successful at drawing large crowds to service each week.

When Karst started three years ago, the church had about 30 regular members. The week before the fire, Karst said they had 175 parishioners attend their Sunday service. They had such an influx of eager churchgoers that they were planning on holding two services on Sunday, starting within the next couple of weeks.

Not only did River Church see a dramatic uptick in the number of attendees, but they were also doing considerable remodeling work before the fire devastated the building. Millsap had helped paint the outside of the building this summer, and they were planning on installing new carpet within the next week. The preschool area was also recently renovated and expanded to accommodate more students.

While the church is searching for a new home to hold their service, Karst said about three churches in the area have already offered to help, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

“If anybody has any access to a building around the area that we could use, that’d be fantastic,” Karst said. “We might need chairs or sound equipment that would go a long way for us, or even kids ministry stuff, because we’ve lost everything in that fire. But I just want people to know Jesus is faithful, and he’s got a plan for us moving forward. We just don’t know exactly what that is yet.”

When Kootenai County and Spokane Valley Fire responded to the fire just after 4 a.m., Karst said crews doused the fire with water for about four hours. He was informed by the firefighters that about 4 to 6 inches of standing water was inside the structure by the time the last flames were quenched. Whatever equipment wasn’t damaged by the fire was ruined by the water.

Karst said he’s particularly saddened by the fire because they usually hold a massive Easter event for kids in the area in the backyard of the church. Last year, they hid around 5,000 Easter eggs and had about 450 community members show up. This year, they were planning on hiding 10,000 eggs, but the fire may have derailed that plan entirely. He’s hoping they can still pull the event off, but it may be difficult to do so if they can’t access the inside of the building.

Karst, who was born and raised in North Idaho, said he was 18 years old when he had an epiphany and was called to become a pastor. He’s enjoyed his time at River Church because of all the kids and young families he’s been able to bring to Jesus. While the fire has definitely dampened his mood, his commitment to his faith and the community remains the same, if not stronger.

“So our theme is … that you belong here, which means that no matter where you’re at in your life, you might not be a believer or you might be 40 years into following Jesus, but we want everybody to know that we just want the best for people,” Karst said.

“And the best is always Jesus. And so that’s the one thing; everybody’s welcome here.”