Church members hopeful after fire

Sherri Brown Staff writer La Grange News

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Sherri Brown | Daily News
Although flames flew around it all morning, a wooden cross in the Teaver Road Baptist Church memory garden was untouched.

With the smell of smoke still heavy in the air, while firefighters kept watch over hot spots still burning, members of Teaver Road Baptist Church met Sunday night to remember, grieve and look to the future with hope.

?It?s going to be OK,? said Jeff Benefield, chairman of the deacons at the church. ?What would have happened if it had started two hours later? It could have been much, much worse.?

The congregation met in the church?s family life center, a building that was completed just three years ago. It had no damage from the fire.

?We have a beautiful building that is unharmed,? Benefield said. ?Now it?s our sanctuary. Thank God, he put it there for us. There will be blessings in this for us.?

Troup Baptist Association director Aaron McCollough spoke at the Sunday evening service. He was scheduled to lead the worship service Sunday morning for the church that currently does not have a pastor.

?I had already prepared to speak from Isaiah,? McCollough said. ?I was planning on preaching that God is still in control.?

McCollough led a short, impromptu service in the road Sunday morning as the sanctuary burned, reminding the congregation that even though the sanctuary burned, the church is the people who gathered to worship.

Longtime church members were saddened by the loss.

?It?s emotional. I know it?s just a building, but my three daughters were married there. We buried my mother there,? said Pat Gaston, a charter member. ?It?s sad, but it will be OK.?

Her husband, Larry Gaston, had recently begun a project to collect information about the church history. A large box of old photos for that project was destroyed in the fire.

Although Brenda Bagley attends another church, she gathered with members Sunday morning, recalling the early days of the church.

?It started out with a tent meeting first, then they decided to form a church,? she said. The first group met in a small cinder block building that was already on the property beginning in 1974. The current sanctuary was built in 1982.

Sunday evening, McCollough announced that several congregations from churches in the community had offered their help.

?You?ve had a tragic event occur in the life of your church this morning. Out of these ashes, this could be your finest moment,? he said. ?The eyes of LaGrange, Troup County and even the state are on you right now to see how you handle this moment. God is bigger than a fire.

?Look to the future set before us.?

Sherri Brown can be reached at sbrown@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 240.

Source: http://lagrangenews.com/bookmark/17040856

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