Southside Church

For those of you who do not yet know, Southside Baptist Church was hit by a tornado last Friday.  This is the church that I grew up in, the aisle that I walked as a youth to accept Christ as my Saviour, the baptistry where I was immersed, even the clock on the wall that I used to closely watch during services waiting for noon.  That clock now sits on 8:32, and heaven only knows if and when it will move again.  I helped on Friday and Saturday to salvage that which we could. Even standing in the sanctuary looking at the sky, it was hard to believe. It should here be said that Brother Stephens showed his true heart in the midst of the storm. When his scanner went off he ran to the new sanctuary, where 6 men were working on a scaffolding and brought them to safety. If you saw the scaffolding, you'd know that it would not have been a pleasant place to be during the storm. I can't imagine that any of them would have survived. In that situation, faced with your own safety and that of almost complete strangers, what would you have done?

There's really not much else to say, the "old" sanctuary has considerable water damage and has lost half the roof.  The fellowship hall is missing at least half of one of its walls.  The "new" sanctuary and classrooms which were not yet completed were the hardest hit, most of it now flattened.  The parsonage lost the second floor and was severely damaged.  Much work is to be done.  Thanks to the miracle of modern insurance, the Church will likely have a chance to make a fresh start.  Please pray for the Church and those who have lost homes and loved ones in these tornados.  I have included some pictures of the damage, for those of you who remember. (notice the scaffolding in the second to last photo)