“We’re Still Having Church”: Hurricane Beryl Took the Roof Off a Treasure Beach Church and Its Pastor’s Home

• Hurricane Beryl ripped the entire roof off Beacon Pentecostal Church of God Trinity
• The pastor’s adjoining home lost almost all of its roof too
• Music equipment, appliances and furniture were damaged or destroyed
• Services continued under the open sky, and a GoFundMe appeal was set up

When Hurricane Beryl hit St Elizabeth on July 3, 2024, Reverend Tommy Lee and his family lost the roof over their church and nearly all of the roof over their home. Three weeks later, the Jamaica Observer reported that Beacon Pentecostal Church of God Trinity, in the Beacon community of Treasure Beach, was still holding services.

Beryl took off the church’s entire roof and damaged its music system and appliances. The house next door, where Lee lives with his wife, Minister Shely-Ann Lee, and daughters Tiandra, 10, and Taija, 8, lost its roof except for part of one back room. The family’s furniture and belongings were destroyed. They saved some zinc sheets and used them for temporary storage.

The family sang through the storm. “There was a peace even though the storm was raging,” Lee told the Observer. “It was the spirit of God who just overwhelm me and we just continue singing.”

Services did not stop. “Even though the roof is not on, we’re still having church and people are still coming,” he said. A GoFundMe campaign was set up to help rebuild. The Observer did not report a repair estimate or say whether either building was insured.

The Beacon case shows something common in rural Jamaica: the church and the pastor’s home often share one lot and face the same risks. When a storm hits, the congregation loses its meeting place and the pastor’s family loses its home together, and both are repaired from the same small pool of offerings and outside gifts.

For church boards, the lesson from Beryl is to treat roofs as their most important asset. That means checking hurricane straps, fixings and roof pitch before the season starts, and asking insurers about windstorm cover for both the sanctuary and the manse. For Jamaicans abroad who give to churches in their home parishes, a planned roof-strengthening gift before hurricane season could prevent the kind of damage that no crowdfunding appeal can fully make good afterwards.

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