Photo by Kevin M. Cox, Galveston County Daily News
Residents of Texas City and the close nearby communities who didn't see the flames of the devil's hell rising into the sky Thursday night, woke up this morning to read that fire had all but destroyed their St. John's United Methodist Church.
In the 1960s, as well as today, St. Barnabus Episcopal Church in Denton is a small congregation in a town of a zillion Baptists, even a number of holy roller churches du jour.
And St. Barnabus' membership has always been comprised of primarily poor college students, professors and the like, so no big money.
Like the Methodist church did last night in Texas City, in the late '60s St. Barnabus caught fire and it was burned here and scorched there, and all knew it was unlikely the parish had enough insurance to make everything right again. So the membership decided they'd rebuild the church with their own hands and with as much donated materials as they could get their hands on. Paid professionals were contracted only when the congregation couldn't figure out how to do a particular thing itself.
When the church was completed, the membership numbers had grown substantially, the little church was beautiful again, and all who had participated had a new understanding and appreciation of what "God's work" means.
I pray for a similar building experience at St. John's in Texas City.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK
214 503-8563
On the Web
;)
;)
Bill, I remember a similar fire in the 1970s of a fabulous Victorian United Methodist Church in Williamsport, PA, destroyed by a serial arsonist. Such a majestic building could not be reproduced today. Insurance money put up a new building, but it could never replace what had been taken.