RICHMOND — The group of beleaguered church members huddled together watching their church burn would never have believed that something good could come from so great a tragedy. But from the ashes of the old has sprung a beautiful new worship facility.
At about 3 a.m. on Jan. 13, 2004, an arsonist set fire to the Poplar Springs Baptist Church building — the fifth in a string of suspicious church fires which included neighboring Hardy Central Baptist Church. The handsome brick structure had been built in 1952 — much of it being constructed by the members themselves.
By 5 a.m. the fire had been discovered and very shortly thereafter church members began to congregate on a slight knoll beside the building to watch their sanctuary go up in smoke — and to comfort one another in their grief. It seemed somehow fitting that they stood in the church cemetery to observe the devastation.
Poplar Springs's new sanctuary has contributed to its recent growth, members believe. (Photo courtesy of DePasquale Gentilhomme Group)
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Some had been present as children when the steeple was constructed. Now, black smoke billowed from the louvers and soon orange flames licked skyward from that same steeple. Church member Bill Korman remembers that the people were aggrieved and stunned. Still, even in that awful scene people found encouragement. “At one point,” Korman remembers, “all the floor around the pulpit had been burned away and it seemed as if the pulpit stood defying the fire, suspended in air.”
That was then. Today the congregation meets in a beautiful new worship center using state-of-the-art technology to help proclaim the timeless message of hope in Jesus Christ. Hope is something this congregation knows something about.
Pastor Stephen Crane reflects, “Because of the fire, we were forced to look ahead. Our first event in the church was a revival that set the tone. I have had people come to me and say that the fire was absolutely the worst thing that ever happened to our church — and the best thing that could have happened to our church.” But they didn’t come to that conclusion without long months and even years of grief over their loss.
How Poplar Springs moved through their grief to become excited about their future is inspiring. “We had several things going for us,” Korman remembers. Strangely, the needs of their insurance company for accurate drawings of the destroyed building forced their first step toward the future. In order to arrive at a fair settlement, they had to know what the church was worth in 2004 dollars and detailed architectural drawings of the old facility had to be made. To do this, the church contracted Jim DePasquale, AIA, of The DePasquale Gentilhomme Group, in Richmond.
The insurance eventually paid $2.1 million. Korman continued, “We had a lot of things going for us. The money from the insurance, good skills in our membership and a place to meet so we were not hurried.” Being pastorless when the church burned, the membership suspended its search and concentrated on immediate needs. Gwynn Davis, their interim pastor, eventually served four years in that role.
The Sunday after the fire, the congregation moved their worship into their Christian life center which, providentially, had been built several hundred yards from the sanctuary. “Every Sunday Gwynn would start the service by saying, ‘It’s a beautiful day at Poplar Springs.’ That first Sunday he could hardly get it out, but he said it. That kind of set the tone for the church,” Korman asserted.
Although many people in the church pressed for a new sanctuary to be built immediately, the emergency steering committee the church had formed held out for a slow, thoughtful and prayerful approach. After the insurance issue was settled, the church began to focus on a strategic master plan. For that, it called for help from the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. Rod Hale and Craig Wilson guided the church through a planning process in which DePasquale was again called upon to provide drawings of a master plan they developed.
Finally, three years after the fire, they were ready to concentrate on building a new sanctuary — and on calling a pastor. Crane was called in September of 2007. For the building design, they once more turned to DePasquale who attempted to preserve some features of the old sanctuary while designing a worship center for the 21st century. The stained glass window in the new sanctuary is from the destroyed building, having survived because it was removed and stored during a previous remodeling. Arched windows are reminiscent of those in the old sanctuary and one circular window is a replica of one destroyed in the fire.
“The design was intended to create flexibility in worship. Theater lighting allows many kinds of worship options and seating in the choral area is moveable and, therefore, more flexible,” offered DePasquale. Still, some concessions to flexibility had to be made. “How do you bring the old church into the new? One way they did that was the pews. They were using chairs in the Christian life center and the sanctuary was more traditional so they opted to use pews rather than chairs,” DePasquale said.
Korman remembers that once they began to work on the new sanctuary drawings the architects suggested that the church form three teams to deal with interior design, audio-visual and technological issues and financial concerns. But the fire and the need for God’s guidance in the aftermath had sensitized the church to prayer. The church formed an inspiration and prayer team along with the others to report to the building steering committee.
Immediately understanding the value of that approach, DePasquale, a member of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, says, “We learned from Poplar Springs and now we first recommend a prayer team for the church before anything else.”
According to DePasquale, the church saved a lot of money by planning so methodically. By partnering with Century Construction, which presented competitive sub-contractors’ bids to the church, they were able to keep costs down. Also, because they had planned carefully, they kept change orders to a minimum — just 1 percent of the total compared to a standard of 3.7 percent. Fewer changes means greater savings in construction.
With obvious excitement, Crane and Korman talk about the future of their church. They know new challenges will arise, but they also know that, with the Lord’s gracious help, their church has risen to every challenge of the past. Even before the fire, this church, which began in 1913 as the First Slovak Baptist Church and had among its charter members Joseph Ukrop who founded the grocery chain, was forced to consider whether it existed for its own membership or for its community. Believing its mission was to reach those around it, worship services began to be conducted in English and the name was changed to Poplar Springs.
Since dedication day on April 26, the church has grown by 10 percent, due, in part, they believe, to the new worship center and in part to an aggressive visitation program that began in January of 2009. As the neighborhood grows, Poplar Springs will offer them a beautiful place to worship — and an even more beautiful fellowship of excited Christ-followers.
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.