Christ Church of Orlando, a downtown congregation located just five doors down from the Pulse night club, is ministering to first responders within police lines.
"We're inside the police boundary lines," Pastor Paul Valo told Charisma News. "The families, they can't even get to where we are."
The church is providing food, water and air conditioning for those dealing with the heat and humidity of an Orlando summer.
The church also hosted a prayer service Sunday evening, and people from multiple churches. Those attending were forced to come on foot to get to the church because of the police lines.
"We're praying for those that are in crisis, those that are grieving today," said Pastor Valo on the church's Facebook video. "We're praying for the first responders. For those that our leading our community, we're praying for you today."
People from a myriad of agencies have come through the church, as has Florida Governor Rick Scott. The second time Gov. Scott visited the church, someone from his entourage said the governor was asking for prayer, and Pastor Valo was honored to pray with him.
"To see his heart and to see how moved he was with compassion for them, I was pretty impressed with that," Valo said.
With visits from government officials and investigators, the church is offering "as much privacy as we can," said the founding pastor of the church, which has served downtown Orlando for 13 years.
The church has some family members who are on the investigation teams, and some were first responders who are now dealing with "the trauma of what they saw," Valo said. "(They have) images that they can't seem to get out of their mind. We've been definitely been praying for them."
The pastor appreciates the fact that the church is there to help from its strategic location.
"It's been an awesome thing to be a part of it," he said. "This is the reason why we're here. We're here to offer help to people who are hurting. As dark as the world gets, hopefully it will make our light shine even brighter."
Pastor Valo said his church had the opportunity to move out of its present location a while back but felt called to the downtown area. With 500 in attendance, Christ Church is about a month away from moving into a new building but on the same property.
"We're at the crossroads of the city," Valos said. "We've been strategically placed here."
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