UTILA, Honduras — As the Rev. Jeff Bennett, pastor of Mizpah Methodist Church here, returned home from errands the morning of Dec. 20, he heard shouting coming from Henderson’s Store, located less than 10 feet from the mission house where he lives. The store was on fire, and Bennett immediately joined the bucket brigade trying to extinguish the flames.

Although the loss of the store has caused some hardship among the island’s residents, it has created an opportunity for members of the Mizpah and Cays Methodist Churches to minister to their neighbors.

The grocery store is the largest on the island and is owned and operated by Archie and Rosalita Henderson, members of the Mizpah church. It was declared a total loss within minutes of the fire’s outbreak.

"Several people were injured in the blaze," Bennett said. "Seven were burned badly enough that they needed care beyond here."

Josué Medina, 18, was burned over 95 percent of his body and died two days after the fire.

Many of those injured received medical attention from the Utila Community Clinic, which was "instrumental in the first response," according to Bennett.

Others are receiving help from the store’s owners and the two churches. "A lot of the response is supporting them [victims]," he said.

The Mizpah and Cays churches are a two-point charge on the 24-square-mile island of Utila off the coast of Honduras being led by Bennett, an ordained elder in the Florida Conference serving two years there as a missionary pastor.

"I felt called by God to do it," he said. "I have an interest in multi-cultural and cross-cultural ministry…and this was a good opportunity to check out my gifts and graces for this kind of work."

The Mizpah church was established in the 1800s and has a regular attendance of 45 people at its two Sunday worship services. Its Sunday school program attracts between 60 and 100 children each week. The Cays Church is located on the keys adjacent to the island and has a regular worship attendance of eight.

Although the store was insured, the Hendersons did not carry liability insurance, Bennett said. They are using money from their insurance settlement to help people injured in the fire. "The money is there to care for the people," Bennett said, "but it’s coming out of the money to rebuild the store."

The Mizpah and Cays churches are also raising money to help care for the people injured. An offering was taken for the victims at the Watchnight Service on New Year’s Eve. Bennett said the church has received gifts from churches in the United States that have provided missionary teams to the Utila churches and clinic.

"No one is not getting care because of the lack of money," Bennett said.

Bennett said he is anxious to see the Hendersons rebuild their store, which not only sold food, dry goods, toiletries and gas, but was also a local social center. Since the store burned, many food items have been hard to get on the island, and prices have gone up.

"We want to help the victims first," Bennett said. "I’d like to see us raise the money to help the victims and to see the Hendersons get back into business."

Bennett is also chaplain of the Methodist-chartered and supported Utila Methodist Community College. He teaches and preaches to the school’s 30 students in grades 7-9 and serves on the board of the clinic, which was built primarily with money and volunteers from the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA) and the United Methodist Church. His wife, Jill, is the clinic’s volunteer administrator.