By Celeste Kennel-Shank
Mennonite Weekly Review

More than 1,000 people attended the concert, headlined by the band Starfield of Vancouver, at Central Heights Church in Abbotsford.

Karen Heidebrecht Thiessen, pastor of West Abbotsford Mennonite Church, attended the concert with her son, Isaac, who turned 9 the next day. They watched from the balcony for the two opening bands and a speaker, and were in their seats after the intermission.

“A group of 100 or 200 teenagers had filled the space between the pews and the stage — the altar call area,” she said.

Starfield were playing their second song when scaffolding above the stage holding speakers and lighting fixtures fell onto the audience and the floor collapsed. Youth in front of the stage fell onto the basement floor.

“There wasn’t chaos or screaming,” she said. “There was gasping and crying, and some people were praying.”

People jumped into the hole to help, and others gathered in groups to pray, Thiessen said.

“You saw God’s people responding in a healthy, appropriate way to tragedy,” she said.

Central Heights has held Christian rock concerts before with dancing in front of the stage, Thiessen said. The teenagers dancing and jumping that night were praising God, she said.

“There was nothing raucous or inappropriate about the way they were responding with their bodies to God,” she said.

Starfield are calling for fans to join them in prayer for the injured teenagers, according to a message on their Web site. The band has played youth conventions for Mennonite Church Canada and the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.

The experience was traumatic for Thiessen and her son, she said. Yet she is grateful that no one died, and most were not seriously injured, she said.

Living Hope Christian Fellowship, a Mennonite Church Canada congregation in Surrey, took its youth group to the concert. Of 19 youth there, 12 fell through the floor when it collapsed, and four were taken to the hospital. One dislocated a shoulder, another hurt an arm, one had a head injury and another broke his wrist and arm, spending two nights in the hospital.

“There is significant emotional trauma that we are trying to help these youth with,” Pastor Lorin Bergen said. “What they are struggling with most emotionally is what could have happened.”

Bergen’s 13-year-old daughter was among those who fell through the floor, and was near electrical wiring and water.

“I shudder when I think about it,” Bergen said.

The church’s service on April 27 praised God that their youth were all alive and beginning to heal, he said.

The congregation heard from a youth who had fallen through the floor, but was not badly injured. He stood up and began helping those around him.

“God had given him a peace in his heart that he could serve others,” Bergen said.

Bergen has felt troubled by some people commenting on Web news stories about the accident, questioning how God could let it happen. Bergen sees it the opposite way.

“The physical limitations of the building were exceeded,” he said. “God in his grace and mercy preserved our kids.”

Central Heights offered a counseling session April 28, attended by dozens of people affected by the tragedy. “I’ve been very impressed with how they [Central Heights] have walked through this,” Bergen said.

Central Heights met at the Columbia Bible College Gymnasium on April 27, and plan to meet there again on May 4, according to their Web site.

Their church attendance is usually 1,200 people, which makes it difficult for local churches to offer space, Thiessen said. Central Heights expects its insurance to cover the cost of repairing the floor, which they hope will be done by the end of the summer, Thiessen said.

The sanctuary was below maximum capacity of 1,300 or 1,400 people on the night of the concert, Pastor Chris Douglas of Central Heights told the Associated Press.

Local authorities are investigating the cause of the floor collapse.

This version of the story includes information left out of the print version because of space limitations.