Texas fires destroy Kokomo church again; Baptists offer supplies, help

While the members of a north Texas church were preventing wildfires from destroying homes in their community, a fire turned their church into a “pile of rubble,” according to deacon Woodrow Browning.

Kokomo Baptist Church, Kokomo, Texas, burned down Dec. 31, 2005, in the wildfires.

Church members remain upbeat despite losing their facilities, Browning said. The church has successfully overcome this situation before. The most recent fire happened exactly 37 years after an apparent electrical fire burned the church down. The facilities were rebuilt then and can be rebuilt again, church members said.

“God is already working in it,” Browning said. “We’ve got to stick together. We’re a close-knit group.”

Two of the church’s families lost their homes as well. Since the wave of north Texas wildfires began in December, 139 fires have burned thousands of acres, destroyed 241 homes and killed three people.

Kokomo Baptist has not yet decided where it will meet in the near future. Several groups have offered their facilities to the approximately 40-member church.

Christian groups also have offered food, clothing and hygiene supplies to members of the church affected by the fire.

Among those providing help is First Baptist Church, Gorman, Texas. Church members gathered items to help victims of the widespread grassfires. They took two truckloads of supplies to First Baptist Church, Cross Plains, Texas, which was serving victims of wildfires there, only to discover their items were not needed.

Gorman church members brought the supplies back and stored them in the congregation’s fellowship hall. Then the fires moved closer to home, essentially leveling Kokomo, just north of Gorman.

First, Gorman, has remained open around the clock, offering supplies to anyone who needs them. “If they don’t see it, they write it on a piece of paper, and we make some calls and get it,” said Barry Schahn, interim pastor.

The congregation also has temporarily housed two families.

The open-door policy at First, Gorman, has been assisted by other Texas Baptist churches bringing additional supplies. These include First, Cross Plains, and Huckabay Baptist Church, Stephenville, Texas.

“It’s one of the most unusual blessings I’ve ever been a part of,” Schahn said.  (ABP)