West Cullman church’s sanctuary destroyed by fire; man accepts Christ during cleanup

Pastor Wayne Wisner said he can already see God at work in the ashes of the fire at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in West Cullman Baptist Association that happened in the early morning hours of Oct. 5.

For starters, on Thursday (Oct. 8) one of the men working to clean up the debris at the burned down sanctuary made a decision to follow Christ.

“He accepted Jesus yesterday, so we’re setting up some time for him to get baptized and into the church,” Wisner said. “God is working; we’re a small church, but things are coming together really good.”

The fire destroyed the church’s sanctuary but left its other facilities intact with minimal smoke damage. Wisner said his understanding is the fire began when a woman tried to commit suicide by setting her truck on fire under the church’s awning. She survived the incident — Wisner said he believes from what he has heard and from their church’s security camera that she got out of the truck at some point after the fire started.

‘Strong enough to overcome’ with Jesus

“The fire marshal came out yesterday and evaluated everything and he told me that it had been cleared, that the investigation was over and everything was fine,” Wisner said.

The church plans to continue to meet in the fellowship hall while they clean up and prepare to rebuild. He noted their insurance isn’t enough to pay for a full rebuild, so the church will continue to pray about what to do next.

“We’ve had people call and offer us space, offer to build us pews for when we rebuild — the list goes on and on,” he said. “Lord knows what might happen, but I believe the church is strong enough to overcome — we will with the blood of Jesus.”