“Shock after shock, after shock, after shock. People are traumatised. What’s next?” 53-year-old Pastor Said Deeb, the Director of Life Center Lebanon, told Salt&Light in a phone interview from Beirut.

The turmoil in Lebanon is escalating. After massive explosions in Beirut on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, the Lebanese Cabinet resigned amidst rising public anger yesterday (August 10).

It is the latest development in a country which has experienced a revolt, economic and financial crises caused by hyperinflation and currency devaluation, and widespread food shortages.

Ps Said admitted: “When you see everything destroyed. People committing suicide because of hunger … Sometimes, we lose heart.

“You need to face it by courage and faith – or surrender.”

“Prompting” saves 34

“I don’t know what it was but God spared our lives,” Ps Said told Salt&Light. “My people asked, ‘Pastor, how did you know about the explosion?’ It was a miracle.”

The Lebanese pastor runs a humanitarian relief centre for refugees in Beirut located just over 1 mile (1.6 km) from the port of Beirut where almost 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded, damaging buildings as far as 10 miles (16 km) away.

On a regular day, the four-storey Life Center is bustling with church meetings, a school for refugee children, discipleship classes and even a food kitchen in the basement.

Life Center is located just over 1 mile (1.6 km) away from the explosions. Buildings up to 0.5 miles (800m) away were levelled and shockwaves shattered windows in buildings as far as 10 miles (16 km) away. In Singapore’s context, a similar explosion at Harbourfront would cause damages as far as Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Kallang. Photo via Google Maps.

But late Tuesday morning, Ps Said felt an inexplicable prompting to stop all the meetings, cancel all activities and close the centre.

“All of you, go home! Leave now,” he told everyone present. “Don’t come back until Sunday for church.”

“I was rude. I don’t know if it was the Lord, but I had a feeling. So, 34 people, I sent them all home,” recalled Ps Said, adding that it was a “heavy” feeling.

For himself, however, it was a double intervention. When Ps Said left the church office to run an errand at the port, he was told to return the next day because the paperwork he needed was not ready.

He left just after noon, stopping to deliver lunch to a group of Nigerian believers who had been left unemployed and stranded after the Covid shutdown and left to meet another pastor in his home, a 40-minute drive south of the port.

“God spared our lives,” said Pastor Said, whose move to cancel all meetings and activities at the refugee relief centre saved the lives of 34 people that day. Photo courtesy of Pastor Said Deeb.

Ps Said was there praying together when the explosion occurred at 6.08pm. When he saw the breaking news, Ps Said was alarmed. His mother and two aunts lived in an apartment in the exact neighbourhood. 

“I started calling people – my wife, children, everyone. But the lines were so busy, I couldn’t connect to anyone,” Ps Said recounted. He rushed back to the city as WhatsApp messages on the various groups started coming in.

Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, estimates that up to US$15 billion worth of damage has been done and over 300,000 homes are damaged, many left uninhabitable. Photo courtesy of Pastor Chady El-Aouad.

Over text, he soon found out that his wife and four children, as well as everyone from the Life Center, were alive and well. (It was only at 2am, more than eight hours later, that Ps Said found out his mother and aunts had been injured and were transported unconscious to a nearby hospital for treatment.)

Because of Ps Said’s action that afternoon, the lives of the 34 people at the centre that day were preserved.

Roads covered with glass

“It was smoke and panic everywhere. It was disastrous,” Ps Said recalled. “Cars had no windows. Rocks, metals and glass on the roads – I drove for kilometres over glass.”

When Ps Said eventually reached Life Center, he stared at the destruction in dismay.

The doors had been blown off their hinges, ceilings had fallen, windows and glass panels had shattered. The lights, air conditioners, computers and laptops were destroyed.

The Life Center, which he had invested 11 years into, was already in dire need of funds before the explosion, the cost of repairs now would be beyond their means. (Because of hyperinflation and economic crisis, bank accounts have been frozen and only fresh funds can be withdrawn).

Ps Said knew they needed to get to work.

“The whole night, we were at the church cleaning the rubbish and protecting it,” he said. Local gangs were already mobilised to take advantage of the chaos and were stealing from unoccupied shops and houses.

For two days and two nights, staff and volunteers helped to clean up the Life Centre and stayed to make sure that the premises were not looted. Some were refugees who left their homes unguarded to help clean up Life Centre, located in Beirut’s low-income and red light district. By late Thursday night, they had cleared out the debris and Ps Said went home to sleep for the first time since the blast on Tuesday evening. Photo courtesy of Ps Said Deeb, Life Centre.

Refugees return to help

“The Syrian refugees, they came to help us,” Ps Said, adding that a Syrian teenager, Youssef, who had been taken in and cared for by the staff and volunteers of Life Center, had even left his little apartment damaged while he helped out.

When Ps Said found out, he called Youssef aside and asked him to go home. But Youssef refused, saying: “The house of God is more important than my house.”

“I was crying,” Ps Said exclaimed. “I felt God’s presence; He is with us! My faith was stirred. We are not going to surrender.”

By Thursday morning, over 30 of them had cleared the centre of the dust and debris, taking turns to keep watch through Tuesday and Wednesday night. And Ps Said sent several youth to help Youssef clean up the debris in his home.

Others spread out into the neighbourhood to help out and distribute sandwiches to those cleaning the streets and damaged apartments. The centre barely had cash to spare, but Ps Said felt prompted to feed those in need around the church and others who were helping with the clean-up in the community.

Refugees and youth of the Church of God, Ps Said’s church which meets on the premises, took to the streets to distribute sandwiches and offer help to those in need. They did this in faith, knowing that Life Centre itself, was running low on cash. Photo courtesy of Ps Said Deeb.

He said: “My team was working and refugees were cleaning and helping other people – we started reaching out, helping and giving to others. This is Jesus. He was bruised, suffering on the Cross, but at the same time, He was giving us life.”

Actions like this were forthcoming from all directions.

Churches from outside Beirut had started calling him, offering to send teams to help with the clean-up and messages of support and financial assistance were coming in from around the world.

People were asking after one another, showing affection and love in action, even sharing tears, Ps Said commented. “I thought, wow, when suffering happens, people unite. For me, this is everything about Christianity.

“Everything,” he emphasised.

By faith alone

While the premises are free of debris, Ps Said estimated that he will need close to 50,000USD (S$70,000) to restore the Life Centre. He does not know where or when the funds will reach him, but efforts are underway in countries like the UK, Switzerland and Singapore.

While funds are needed, Ps Said is seeking prayer as well. “The most important thing now is to pray for us,” he said.

“Boldness. Courage. To continue reaching and serving the community. You need boldness when you go to help people and you don’t have anything to help them.

“We are like Peter and John who said, ‘Silver and gold we have none’. But we have hope and smiles to give – and hope brings faith, which is all that counts in times like this.

“By faith, we started. By faith, we will continue.”

This Christmas 2020, Life Center Lebanon is raising funds to bless up to 500 Lebanese families with gifts, toys and food boxes. If you’d like to contribute to its work, click here.

Here's how to help

#LoveLebanon is a ground-up initiative responding to the ongoing crisis. Started by two Singaporeans, the Give.Asia campaign hopes to raise over S$70,000 to support organisations that the organisers have personally know and worked with. Photo courtesy of #LoveLebanon.

In Singapore, 32-year-old Germaine, who spent eight months doing humanitarian work in Lebanon last year, initiated a Give.Asia fundraising campaign to help raise funds for Beirut.

Life Center is one of three local organisations being supported. The funds will be channelled to not only to reconstruction and medical support, but also to food and shelter for those displaced.

“My heart goes out to the Lebanese,” she said. “To see what they’ve gone through, wave after wave. I wanted to show Christ-like love to them – not just as believers, but as fellow human beings.

“The Lord has brought the news into the country through the media and if we have the resources and capacity, we should take this opportunity to respond.”

If you feel moved to help, here’s how:

1. Pray for Lebanon.

2. Give to #LoveLebanon
Funds raised will be channelled to these three local organisations who have been consistently working on the ground with communities-in-need for many years

• The Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD), is an NGO that is converting some of their facilities into units to house and support families who have lost their homes, for as long as they need to stay. Money will go to food and essentials for the families, as well as operating costs (e.g. utilities, heating).
• The Resurrection Church of Beirut (RCB) is supporting the wounded who cannot afford surgery and medical attention. They have also already started renovation works for damaged homes, cleaning the debris, others were cooking & giving out food, and others donating and collecting donations.
• Life Center, which houses a church and refugee relief programs, is located in the heart of Naba’a, Bourj Hammoud, a low-income and red light district, home to many Syrian refugees, migrant workers, and urban poor. Money will go to the distribution of food and groceries to the community.

“Had it not been my birthday, I would have died”: Lebanese Pastor recalls horrifying moment of Beirut explosion