Clarke Baptist Association’s office in Grove Hill has been temporarily relocated to one of the state’s mobile chapel units following a fire in late December.
Jack Wright, retired director of missions (DOM) for Clarke Association, said the fire started around 8:30 a.m. Dec. 27 and severely damaged the association’s workroom.
“I was down there when the fire started,” Wright said. “We were very fortunate that the building didn’t catch fire outside of that room.”
According to an article in The South Alabamian Dec. 29, the fire started following a power surge that ran through the transformer as the church next door, Miracles of Prayer Church, was burning.
At press time, fire department officials could not be reached for an updated assessment of the cause of the church fire.
The surge of power at the associational office caused sparks to be released from the outlets in the workroom, and the copy machine and nearby papers caught fire.
Wright said Kathy and Gary Pickard, his daughter and son-in-law, saved the rest of the building. They were outside and noticed the fire.
Gary Pickard, a volunteer firefighter, retrieved a nearby water hose and fought the fire until the fire department arrived.
Chris Baker, current DOM for Clarke, said the building was insured and is in the process of being cleaned.
The workroom is also being rebuilt. Baker said the outer portion of the building was not damaged, so renovations will only have to be made to the interior. He expects to be back in the office by March.
Until then, the mobile unit provided by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions is supplying the association’s needs.
The association received the mobile unit at no cost the day after requesting it. It is set up next to the associational office and is being used as office space. Baker said the state board has done a great job of responding to the need.
“Our association sees [the fire] as an opportunity to start fresh,” he said.
About the mobile chapel ministry …
Mobile chapels are a ministry of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) and are available to new church starts or churches that experience a disaster situation. Churches suffering from a disaster situation such as Clarke Baptist Association’s fire (see above story) can get access to a mobile chapel immediately; for new church starts, there is an application process. The SBOM has 34 mobile chapels total, most of which are in use at any given time. For more information call Ron Parnell at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 234.
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