Abanda congregation bands together to recover after floods

Abanda Baptist Church members in East Liberty Association found a soggy sanctuary after the May 7 storms, but this congregation of senior adults turned disaster into a rallying point.
   
“It was flooded and completely destroyed by flood waters,” said East Liberty Baptist Association director of missions Charles Wynn. “There were about two feet of water at the front door. Inside, water rose about three-fourths of the way up on pews at the back of the church and completely covered the pews at the front,” he said.
   
“We waded in water up to our knees (May 8) to get our Bibles and songbooks out,” said Marilyn Breed, an Abanda member in her 70s. “We are a small church and we are all elderly, so we can’t do a lot but I wanted to do what I could.
   
“We moved our piano out because it was over half-covered in water, some of our pews were upside down, and in the kitchen it looked like a tornado hit — the refrigerator was turned over and the cabinets were off the wall,” she said.
   
Despite all this, the 22 people attending Sunday morning worship May 11 had gathered at the local volunteer fire department to have worship, but their billowing tide of resolve to rise above adversity caused them to go over to their church building, drape plastic over some of the aisles and pews, sit down and have church.
   
“We had a good service and had more people there than we’d had in a long time,” said Abanda Baptist Pastor Bryan Yates. “Everybody’s kind of disheartened a little bit, but we are using this as a time to pull together.”
  
While they worshiped that Sunday morning water still stood in the basement of the church.
   
As waters receded more damage became more evident. The drying hardwood pews split and the wooden floor under the carpet began to buckle, according to Yates. He said that all of the carpet in the church would have to be removed, and that would be just the beginning.
   
Pending a building inspector’s report, including a close inspection of the foundation, the church will decide whether to repair the existing building or build a new one.
   
“They just need our prayers and assistance, whether they can do something with this building or have to build a new one,” Wynn said.
   
“They will not get a penny from their insurance, because it did not cover flooding,” Wynn said.
   
Yates said they salvaged the pulpit and the communion table. He emphasized that God had and has a purpose in bringing the congregation together to have a church all these years, so they would look to Him for continued guidance and purpose as a church in the midst of disaster.
   
The East Liberty Association disaster relief team, the local volunteer fire department and the Chambers County Emergency Management Association volunteers rallied around the church with a cleanup at the church scheduled for May 17.