Facebook Site Set for Vander Weit Tips/Prayers
Family photo of George Vander Weit
A Facebook page has been made available on which people can obtain updates on the search for retired Christian Reformed Church pastor George Vander Weit.
Created by a friend of the family, the page is also available for those who would like to post prayers as the search goes on for Vander Weit who was last seen on July 5.
Vander Weit left his home on his bicycle and without his cell phone or identification.
After conducting several land and air searches of wooded areas within several miles of Vander Weit’s home, police have been unable to find any trace of Vander Weit.
“Lord, we just cannot even begin to fathom the pain and uncertainty that the VanderWeit family is going through,” writes one person on the Facebook site.
“Please give them the strength and grace needed to face each day. We thank and praise you for your love and faithfulness to us and we find comfort in your many promises. Lord, tonight our prayer is simple -- please, may George be found and soon. It is only in your most holy and precious name that we humbly make this request. Amen.”
Before he went missing, police say, Vander Weit had been recently discharged from an in-patient mental health facility. He is considered to be a danger to himself.
The family friend who put together the Facebook pages writes: “I created this page for a very close and dear friend of mine that is in search of his father that is in need of being found. Please help share this page to get the word out and to help find George VanderWeit. Please help bring him home to his family safe.”
Vander Weit, 70, was last seen about 9:30 a.m. on July 5 around the intersection of Runyon and Dequindre roads in Rochester in northeast Oakland County. He was wearing a red T-shirt and olive- green shorts and riding an older-style 10-speed bike.
About 60 people searched a 5-square-mile area on July 6, said Rochester Police Chief Steven Schettenhelm.
The police department has received assistance from a number of K9 units and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, as well as from helicopter search resources on various search attempts.
The area near Vander Weit’s home is full of bike trails, open land and a densely wooded park.
At one point, a K9 dog got a scent and led searchers into the woods. But they found nothing, said the police chief.
Right now, said the police chief, they are not conducting many active searches and are focusing instead on gathering information about Vander Weit.
Vander Weit is a well-known pastor in the CRC and a prolific writer for The Banner, the church’s monthly publication.
He served churches in Wayland, Mich., Cleveland, Ohio, Troy Mich., Grand Rapids, Mich., and a Korean church in Rochester.
“A number of you have/are inquiring how you can be of assistance. I still believe the best way is to pray that my dad is found or that a substantiated tip comes in that will give the police reason to send out another search party into a specific area. Also, please keep my mother, the rest of our family, and me lifted up in prayer,” writes one of Vander Weit’s children on the Facebook site.
Anyone with information about Vander Weit’s whereabouts is asked to email [email protected] or call the Rochester Police Department at 248-651-9621.
