Two teens who had arrived early for a church youth group meeting in Greenville, Texas, on Wednesday evening escaped harm as their church roof was ripped off during a possible tornado, according to an article on CNN.com.
“The roof of our building literally collapsed right in front of us and started coming down,” Corbin Hudgins told CBS affiliate KTVT. “Water was coming under the door, flooding the place.”
“Our church building was just like destroyed,” said Oscar Montibalz, adding the church site crumbled in.
Most of northern Texas had been under a tornado watch for much of the day.
But Dr. Chet Haney, the head pastor of the Highland Terrace Baptist Church, is choosing to focus on God’s grace.
“If you hear that our church is damaged, don’t believe it,” Dr. Haney said in a Facebook Live update the following day on the church’s social media site. “The Church is not a building, it’s the people, and nobody got hurt and for this we give God thanks.”
In fact, Dr. Haney, who said they don’t yet know the extent of the damage to the church, has already scheduled a church service at Greenville High School for this coming Sunday at 10:45 am. “Spread the word,” says a post on the church’s Facebook page.
Dr. Haney was also grateful for the outpouring of prayers, support and offers to help. Texas Baptist Men (TBM), a non-profit ministry best known for assisting and rebuilding after natural disasters, quickly arrived on the scene with temporary roofing supplies. “When we got there the pastor was out front with some of the congregants; they already had a construction crew trying to put temporary tarps over the gaping holes in their building. And they were all ready busy ministering to the community,” says Dwain Carter, TBM’s Director of Disaster Relief. “I got to pray with Pastor Haney and encourage him, but he soon asked us to go and check on the Lutheran church in town that he had heard had some damage to one of their buildings. The church community and the overall Greenville community just came together. That’s what they do.”
