Through the fire

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, March 8th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: church arson.

Back in 1997, President Bill Clinton pulled together a federal task force to combat arson attacks on churches.

The number of arsons declined in each of the task force’s three years from nearly 500 annually down to around 200. Still, the federal government reports about 100 such attacks on houses of worship each year.

REICHARD: And when arsonists attack, the aftermath doesn’t just leave charred walls and hymnals. Sometimes, it leaves opportunities. WORLD Senior Correspondent Kim Henderson brings us this report.

AUDIO: [NEWS REPORT]

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: An arsonist hit First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, September 30th.

BETHEA: We think that she hid out right down here in the third floor, down the hallway that we just passed. We're pretty sure she hid out in there until about two in the morning

That’s the church’s pastor, Mark Bethea. At first sight, he thought the damage was minimal. Sure, a reception area was wiped out, but flame-retardant carpet kept fires under control in two sanctuaries. But that was more than five months ago. Back before he understood the problems that come with extensive smoke and soot.

BETHEA: The air conditioning units picked up soot and spread it out all throughout the church. So it's all in those spaces . . .

Along with an army of professional cleanup crews, the church has also hosted lots of equipment. Five stories of scaffolding. Spray painters. Food tents. Eighteen wheelers.

AUDIO: [AIR PURIFIERS]

Air purifiers—tall ones with charcoal filtration—are strategically placed throughout the church’s complex of buildings. It’s a big campus. More than 377,000 square feet.

But even with so much in disarray, Associate Pastor Kenny Hoomes says there’s no natural explanation for the place not burning down, particularly the old sanctuary that was built in 1905.

HOOMES: There's some good hard wood in that building. It could be a pile of rubble today, and yet on this freezing cold, snowy morning here in Montgomery, Alabama, we're able to worship in that old building, and be warm and dry.

Billy Irvin is a longtime member of First Baptist. He’s a deacon and teaches a 9th grade Sunday School class for boys. He also knows Montgomery inside and out because he’s on staff with a Christian broadcasting company.

BILLY: I regularly am sitting around tables, at least monthly, with pastors of different color and different denominations praying together, finding ways that we can serve the community together . . .

So Irvin wasn’t surprised when congregations throughout the community stepped up last fall to help First Baptist.

IRVIN: Trinity Presbyterian Church, which is about five minutes away. Some of our choir music ministry met there at their church for a while. Fraser United Methodist Church across town called and said, “Do you need our stage? Do you need our sound equipment?”

AUDIO: [HYMN SINGING]

First Baptist met outside for worship services for weeks after the fires. And classrooms were off-limits, too.

IRVIN: So we met in homes, we met at restaurants, we met in the park. In fact, my Sunday school class is up the street here in an old house. It’s where we meet on Sunday mornings.

At one of the outdoor services the church had a special guest. Dawson Zhang pastors Montgomery Chinese Christian Church. He was shocked when he learned the arson suspect was a Chinese woman.

ZHANG: We pray for Pastor Mark and the congregation. We told him our Chinese congregation loves you, supports you. We’re one family in God, in Jesus Christ. So God's love can conquer the hatred.

Billy Irvin appreciates Pastor Zhang’s kindness, but he says First Baptist isn’t focused on the suspected arsonist’s ethnicity.

IRVIN: . . . an international person did this. Well, an individual did this, an individual whose heart is certainly not in alignment with Christ. Someone who has got evil in them did this.

Irvin remembers being in the church parking lot, helping set up chairs for one of the outdoor services, when he had a thought.

IRVIN: This church is going through a cleaning of these little micro carbon things you can barely see, yet they've contaminated the inside of the church, and it must be cleaned up for it to function properly . . .

He says the same is true for us.

IRVIN: . . . in that Psalm, right? Lord, if there's anything in me, even if I don't even know what it is, if you'll help me identify it, then I can clean my heart so that I can be right with you . . .

Pastor Bethea doesn’t downplay the arson, but he doesn’t grumble about it, either.

BETHEA: No pastor wants to be dealing with this. They want to be dealing with helping people connect with Jesus. And in a way, that's what we’ve talked about—stewarding the season. That in a way this has allowed us to connect people to Jesus through the struggle that we're facing.

Meanwhile, the cleanup and restoration work continues at First Baptist. They’re able to meet in part of the buildings. But even a Servpro staff member said the project has been challenging. Especially the pipe organs.

WORKER: The man who originally installed this organ in Stakely Sanctuary—his son who took over the business—was the one that came and helped clean the organ. And his dad originally installed it way back in the day. So I thought that was pretty cool.

And then, as if the fires weren’t enough, the church got hit again, but not by an arsonist. This time it got hit by a car.

AUDIO: [NEWS REPORT]

It was a Wednesday night. Choir had just let out.

BETHEA: This was a pure accident. He just blacked out. And thankfully he's okay. But it's crazy.

Bethea says these events have shown him and his congregation they can be flexible.

BETHEA: It's just a building. It's just a facilitator for what God's doing. And I think that we’ll walk away here being appreciative for the space and what it allows us to do, but unified around God's mission and purpose for us, rather than just the building and place that we are.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Montgomery, Alabama.

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