ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (ABP) — “It's nothing but rubble on the sand.” That's the news Paul Smith, pastor of Romar Beach Baptist Church, got from congregation members who watched televised reports of Hurricane Ivan smashing into the beachfront church building.
Baptist churches on the coastal region of Alabama and Florida — including Pensacola, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan — sustained major wind and water damage from Ivan.
Perhaps hardest hit was Romar Beach Baptist Church in Orange Beach, on a barrier island near Mobile. “I don't think we have a church left,” Smith said. “I haven't seen it yet, but I have been told that it's totally destroyed.”
Ivan's eye struck the church directly. “A half dozen people called and told me they saw before and after shots of it on the evening news,” Smith said.
Though the footage told a tale of destruction, Smith hasn't lost faith. “God's still in control. And we were already planning renovations,” he added. “This could be God's way of saying, 'I don't want you to just renovate. I want you to build a whole new church.'”
Weathering adversity is nothing new to the mission church — it was birthed in the struggle over prime tourist real estate and later survived the winds of Hurricane Georges in 1998.
The architect is already preparing plans to rebuild. And Smith is seeking permission to bring in a portable chapel to house the church temporarily. “Until that can happen, I'm just trying to come up with a place to hold services this Sunday,” Smith said. “We're ready to take what we've been served and run with it.”
Charlie James, who has helped build and repair the church since its founding, was one church member who witnessed the destruction on national television. “'It's just a vacant lot.' That's what the reporter kept saying,” James said. “It's disheartening to see that happen to the church you've put so much time into.”
Elsewhere in Alabama, structural damage was fairly severe for First Baptist Church in Summerdale, First Baptist Church in Atmore and Fulton Road Baptist Church in Mobile. All lost their steeples during the storm. New Life Baptist Church in Bay Minette, Fairmount Baptist Church in Red Level and First Baptist Church, Seminole, also all sustained major water and wind damage.
In Florida, 27 Baptist church buildings were damaged by Hurricane Ivan, 12 of them heavily.
Churches known to have received heavy damage were First Baptist Church of Destin, Rosemont Baptist Church in Niceville, Berrydale Baptist Church in Jay, Blackwater Baptist Church in Milton, First Baptist Church of Jay, Brownsville Baptist Church in Pensacola, East Brent Baptist Church in Pensacola, Emerald Coast Baptist Church in Pensacola, First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Innerarity Point Baptist Church in Pensacola, Warrington Baptist Church in Pensacola, and Whitfield Memorial Baptist Church in Pensacola.
At Pensacola's First Baptist, Ivan ripped two holes in the sanctuary's roof, sucked out the windows and frames from the church's educational building and peeled the top off the building where a Korean congregation meets. A hairline crack in the brick mortar stretches from the sidewalk pavement to the third story.
“In times like this it's important for the people of God to come together to reflect on our blessings. A lot of people have needs,” said Pastor Robert Mills, who had resigned from the church on the Sunday before Ivan struck but continues to lead the church. “Who could have ever guessed that in a week's time so much would have changed,” Mills asked the congregation.
Many in the church had suffered damage to their homes, said pastor's wife, Angela Mills, including a church deacon whose home was completely destroyed.
Across town to the west, Myrtle Grove Baptist Church is ministering to its struggling middle class neighborhood where fallen trees and power wires line the debris-covered roads. “This community is really hard hit,” said Pastor Ron Lentine. “We are so close to the water and the Naval Air Station that I knew there would be great needs. “
At Brownsville Baptist Church and Warrington Baptist Church, Ivan left holes in sanctuary roofs, shredded awnings, and left stained-glass windows in pieces.
At West Pensacola Baptist Church, the father of one church member died of a stroke on Saturday after seeing his home when he returned after evacuation. “Some of our people are not prepared and do not have any water,” said Pastor Laddy Pierce.
Many Baptist churches in Alabama survived Ivan with only minor roof damage, such as Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile.
Sheila Parish, a member First Baptist Church in Mobile, paused from cutting down a tree limb in her front yard on Friday morning, Sept. 17, to report that most of the Mobile area had been “very lucky” with the damage that Ivan brought. “Compared to Fredrick, Ivan was just a bad storm,” she said.
Larry Patterson, director of missions for the 60-church Baldwin Baptist Association, said he had not been able to reach any of the pastors at the churches in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. “Right now we don't even know if they are still standing,” he said with concern.
Another church confirmed as damaged in the ferocious hurricane was First Baptist Church in Silverhill, Ala., which had five stained glass windows blown out of their sanctuary, resulting in major water damage to the piano.
Silverhill Pastor Jeff Hunter witnessed the eye of Hurricane Ivan as it passed over at around 2 a.m. Hunter, who had taken refuge in the home of a church family with a basement, said that for about an hour the atmosphere outside was very calm with no wind or rain.
“There was just some light mist falling and then an hour later, you knew you were in a hurricane,” he said, explaining that, “Ivan took the path straight up Highway 59 and we were about three miles from there.”
As Ivan marched northward through the state, the severity of damage decreased, though the greater portion of the state at the very least experienced toppling trees and downed power lines. Alabama Power tagged Ivan with causing the state's largest power outage in history.
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— This article is based on reporting by Jennifer Davis of the Alabama Baptist and Barbara Denman of the Florida Baptist Convention.