ATHENS, AL (WAFF) -
A Limestone County church was destroyed by a fire overnight.
Cherry Grove Missionary Baptist Church at 6530 Cherry Grove Road in Athens caught on fire around 4:30 a.m. Monday, and was reduced to smoldering rubble early Monday morning.
The pastor said he knew the building was doomed even before he got to the scene.
"I was shocked and sad," said Rocio Hostetler, a church member. "This is where I came when I was adopted. My home church and everyone was so sweet to me - a lot of special memories with all the church family."
"When
it topped the hill over there on Stenna Hollow, that's about five miles as the
crow flies, I'd say, and I could see the flames and I started praying right
then, 'Hey God, do something big. Do
something big,'" said Pastor Chris Pirtle.
The
building, which dates back to 1902, is a total loss.
Pirtle said
the church has insurance, and the congregation is poised for rebuilding.
ATF and the State Fire Marshal's Office are investigating.
State
fire investigators plan to come in on Thursday and start going through the
wreckage of the building to figure out what caused all this. They said it's
going to be a lengthy process. For one thing, they'll need heavy equipment to
pick up the tin roof which fell in, essentially, one very large piece on top of
everything else.
Meanwhile,
church leaders say, for their part, their work is going to continue
uninterrupted.
"Material
things are not so important. It's more
the people that are important and changing lives is more important than anything
built out of wood and stone," said deacon Tim Thompson.
"We'll
meet Sunday morning, start our missions conference just like normal. Hey, the
church building's gone; the church is fine," said Pirtle.
The investigation by the state and the ATF is
routine in the case of church fires.
No injuries were reported.
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Cherry Grove Missionary Baptist Church was destroyed by fire.
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