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PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL 1992
Canadian Teen Challenge choir survives bus crash
A bus crash on an icy road in the Canadian Rockies sent 21 members and staff of the Teen Challenge National Touring Choir of Canada to the hospital last October.
All but five were treated and released; the five spent only a short time in the hospital and are recovering satisfactorily, according to Bernie Gillott, the group's director. Two of Gillott's four children were among those hospitalized with injuries."It is miraculous that no one sustained life-threatening injuries," Gillott said. "The combination of God's supernatural protection coupled with the healing experienced since the crash are overwhelming." |
The accident occurred October 21, 1991, near Hinton, Alberta, when the $65,000, 47-seat bus skidded on the icy highway, flew over a 20-foot embankment backwards, and landed on its roof. Bernie and Cathy Gillott, their four children, and 15 Teen Challenge choir members were in the bus.
Soloist/staff member Robert Spencer was the most seriously injured of the group, with a fractured cervical vertebrae. As soon as the blizzard eased enough for air travel, he was flown from the local hospital to the University of Alberta Hospital for specialized treatment. He was released after 4 days.
Teen Challenge Farm Inc., the Ontario, Canada, headquarters where the choir is based, said the bus was a total loss. The group is facing a financial crisis in the matter— they will need approximately $20,000 beyond the insurance coverage to replace the bus.
 The choir, which collectively represents more than 200 years of former drug addiction, alcoholism, and crime, has traveled in five countries this year, including the coast-to-coast tour of Canada and the U.S. it was on when the accident happened. Choir directors Bernie and Cathy Gillott are in their 11 th year of Teen Challenge ministry. They directed the Teen Challenge National Touring Choir of Rehrersburg, Pa. from 1980-90.
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