At this point, The Bread of Life Baptist Church has decided to suspend services for Sunday. While the majority of the damage is to the outside of the building, they are playing it safe before returning to normal. The church is taking it week to week before they reopen their doors.

Pastor Luke Miller explained,”We’re obviously concerned about safety, first and foremost, so we want to make sure that the air quality is conducive to have services for everyone, but also for the elderly and they young children that we have in the church.”

 

Damage to the church was limited to melted siding and burnt crosses. Miller says that he was told that if the fire department would have arrived just a minute or so later, the roof could have gone up in flames and the damage wouldn’t have been limited to just the church.   

 

He detailed, “The fire department told us that is it would have lit a tree a little bit closer to the house next door that both the church and the house could have lit on fire. You know, lives could have been lost. So, we’re just incredibly grateful and thankful to the Lord that no one was injured.”

 

Through it all, Miller says that church has stayed positive. He says damaging the building, doesn’t damage their spirit. 

 

He explained, “A lot of people think the church is a building, and the church in the bible is actually the people. And thank God no one was hurt, we’re still here, together. A lot of the folks in our church have been through a lot in their life, and this is just a testimony of God’s faithfulness.”

 

The cost of the damage is still being determined. Miller says that when they finally do decide it’s safe to reopen, he plans on having a reopening ceremony to celebrate their return.

 

As for the teens, at this point, no charges have been filed for causing the fire.