One year ago today (Jan. 12), two congregations found themselves homeless after a tornado ripped through their community, destroying their buildings.
But ever since then, both Wadworth Baptist Church and First Hispanic Baptist Church of Autauga have found a home at Marbury Baptist Church.
“We’re all one family of faith, one family of God,” said Gilbert Jennings, a deacon at Wadsworth Baptist.
Wadsworth’s building was hit so significantly by the storm that the buildings left standing had to be demolished eventually.
Getting firm footing
“The first few weeks were ‘what just happened,’” Jennings said of the church’s mindset after the storm. “It was, ‘Can we get it fixed up by next week and start holding services again?’ Reality took a while to set in.”
After several months, they were told by engineers and insurance that the buildings couldn’t be repaired.
“So then we started thinking, ‘What are our first steps?’ It took us about six months to get our feet firmly on the ground,” Jennings said.
But in the meantime, nearby Marbury Baptist had reached out to them and offered their sanctuary, which they had recently stopped using. The Marbury congregation had moved into their fellowship hall in preparation to renovate their sanctuary, but then their pastor, Jeff Hardy, had an accident and broke his back.
‘A great partnership’
As Hardy took time to heal and the church pressed pause on the project, the timing worked perfectly for Wadsworth Baptist to start meeting in their sanctuary on Sunday mornings while Marbury Baptist met in the fellowship hall.
Hardy said it’s “been a great partnership.”
Carlos Lemus, who leads First Hispanic Baptist Church, said his congregation was another beneficiary of Marbury Baptist’s willingness to partner. His church’s building was also damaged by the tornado to the point that they decided to completely rebuild.
“We started gathering in one of the homes in Marbury, but with three families, it was pretty tight,” he said of their Tuesday night Bible studies. “We knew we would not be able to grow if we stayed there, so I started looking for a church nearby who might provide us with a place where we could meet.”
Growing and preparing to build
Marbury Baptist told them that they would be happy to have them.
“We have been able to invite more people for the Bible study now,” said Lemus, who also serves as Hispanic mission strategist for Autauga Baptist Association and director of Hispanic ministries for Elmore Baptist Association.
He noted that in December, First Hispanic Baptist Church suddenly had 15 more people attending who were new to the area.
The church plans to start construction on their new building this summer. In the meantime, they’re grateful for Marbury Baptist’s hospitality.
“Thank God for the openness of this church to receive us,” Lemus said. “They are doing a great job of opening the doors for us and helping us in this time of struggling that we have to face.”
‘Happy and excited’ about the future
Jennings said the Wadsworth congregation is also excited to get started on their new building soon. Once they knew they would need a total rebuild, they put together a design team that met twice a week to look at designs.
Then they contacted Don Green, a member of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn who serves as building site coordinator for Carpenters for Christ, and brought him into the planning and building phase. Green will bring a team in April to start working on the building.
“Our responsibility between now and the time they arrive is to have the foundation poured, have materials on hand and be ready to go,” Jennings said.
After Green’s team leaves, other teams will rotate in to continue the work. If all goes well, Wadsworth Baptist should be in its new building in October, Jennings said. “We’re very happy and excited. We’ve had a couple of pictures of the rendering of the new church, and we think it’s just beautiful.”
Host church growing too
Hardy said his congregation has also seen growth in the past year as the other two churches have grown under its roof. It’s been a continuation of a revitalization journey they’ve been on for the past several years.
“The Lord has blessed, and almost exactly four years ago we were running six to eight people, and now we’re running 50 to 70 depending on the Sunday,” he said. “God’s done an amazing work.”
They’ve seen new ministries started, including children’s and youth classes, he said. “A lot of that stuff is new to us and just started within the last year.”
Hardy said God has “certainly been good” to them every step of the way.
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