Pastor Dies in House Fire; Paralyzed Son, Daughter-in-Law Manage to Escape
A beloved Minnesota pastor died tragically in a fire at his family home Saturday. His paralyzed son and daughter-in-law managed to escape.
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office told the Duluth News Tribune that the pastor, Jeffrey Sorvik, 52, was found in the rubble of the home located at 6139 Pioneer Junction Road in Normanna Township.
At the time of his death, Pastor Sorvik was serving as church multiplication catalyst for the Evangelical Free Church of America. He was previously the founding pastor of Anchor Point Community Church where he is currently a member.
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In a statement Monday, the EFCA revealed that Sorvik's son, Josh, and daughter-in-law, Chelsea, were able to escape from the house unhurt during the fire. The Duluth News Tribune reported that the young couple were unable to get back into the home to save the pastor because the fire was too intense. Michele, the pastor's wife, was not home at the time of the fire to help, according to the EFCA.
A 2014 report in the Duluth Tribune said the pastor's son, Josh, 25, was paralyzed from the chest down in a skiing accident at Spirit Mountain in March 2009, when he was a senior at Duluth East High School.
In a Christmas themed blog post just two months ago, the pastor's wife and mother of three, explained how Josh's accident had changed her family.
"That year our lives had been altered forever. Instead of standing and jumping and whooping as the ornaments hit the tree, one member of our family sat in his wheelchair and chose to belong to a season of hope when so many parts of his life and ours had been severely crushed. He, Josh, was a real David taking on the terrifying, overwhelming giant of paraplegia. He had been injured nine months earlier as a senior in high school in a skiing accident. Our lives crashed along with him on that ski hill. 'I wish I could take your place,' I had choked out in a whisper as he lay in his hospital bed. "I wouldn't let you," he whispered back.
"I honestly can't tell you the pain I feel even now, seven years later, remembering it all. It hurts so much I don't go back very often to those early months and years. However, I am reminded as I sit here with tears in my eyes and hands shaking as I type, that in retrospect, as in the biblical tale, Goliath has not won...Josh survived. Not only survived but is a living example of one who faces loss each day of his life and continues to choose forward instead of giving in to the dark places that we all visit but are never meant to stay," she wrote.
Just two months later, however, Michele is being forced to face another Goliath in the loss of the husband she called "best friend/hubby."
In a post on Facebook Monday night, Josh revealed he was heartbroken over the death of his father.
"My heart is broken, I long for the day I will see you again. I love you and miss you dad," he noted with a photo of his father standing beside him in his wheelchair.
Anchor Point Community Church said they could not find enough words to explain the loss they suffered with the death of Pastor Sorvik.
"There are no adequate words to express the entirety of our sorrow as a result of Jeff's unexpected and sudden departure," the church said in a tribute on Facebook.
"Jeff faithfully led us for more than seven years as lead pastor, mentor, friend and beloved brother in Christ. The full measure of his legacy and influence will never be sufficiently known. Through preaching God's word, teaching us to live like Jesus, challenging us to make disciples and leading by example, he gave every bit of himself to us. We are forever grateful to have received more from God through Jeff then we could ever hope to repay. They simply don't come any better than Jeff Sorvik."
EFCA President Kevin Kompelien praised Sorvik as a passionate church planter.
"Jeff knew that throughout Scripture and history, the byproduct of going out and turning lost people into disciples requires the gathering together of new churches, and that the development of disciples leads to planting churches. He was inspired to celebrate the work of God through leaders, churches and movements around the world. I, and the entire EFCA, am so grateful for Jeff's impact on this movement and for how God's legacy was lived out through his life," said Kompelien.
Others who knew Sorvik described him as a compassionate person, who loved and cared for all people.
"When I started seeing some of the responses to what happened Saturday they were coming from all over of relationships he made and established," Glenn Johnson, pastor of North Bay Community Church told FOX 21. "People who recognized his heart and his love and were responding with true grief."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
A Go Fund Me campaign seeking to raise $50,000 has been launched to assist his family in replacing their home which was completely destroyed in the fire. A memorial fund has also been set up by Anchor Point Community Church to assist the Sorvik family.
A memorial service for Sorvik is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. at Duluth Vineyard Church (1533 W. Arrowhead Rd., Duluth, MN, 55811).
