Church back and bigger than ever
By Jeremy Peppas \ Staff Writer \ jpeppas@nlrtimes.com
Friday, October 10, 2008 2:49 PM CDT
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| First Freewill Baptist Church has reopened its sanctuary after a 2007 fire caused by a lightning strike left only the brick walls and the foundation. The new building is 2,200 square feet larger, and the project cost about $3 million. (Jeremy Peppas) |
More than a year later, First Freewill Baptist Church has reopened it sanctuary.
The church, at 2001 Parkway Drive, was struck by lightning in July 2007, and all that was left was the foundation and the brick walls.
“For the foundation to stay, that’s a pretty good thing,” said Pastor Mark Stripling. “I think that says something good about the church.”
Also standing was the family life center that wasn’t connected.
The fire took more than five hours to control, and all of the North Little Rock Fire Department’s available equipment and personnel were used.
It happened on a Friday, and by Sunday the church was already launching plans to rebuild.
“The total complex will be about $3 million to rebuild,” Stripling said. “You have the structure, and that’s about $2.5 million, and then you have the interior. That’s another half million.”
Because the church was destroyed on the inside, Stripling said everything from the sound system to “crayons and all the way up to the pulpit” had to be replaced.
The church launched a fundraising drive to help with costs, and Twin City Bank started a fund for donations.
“Our insurance provider has done very well,” Stripling said. “They have been very helpful, and we had a lot of our sister churches in the state provide help, as well.”
Stripling is approaching his second decade at the church and has been the pastor for eight years.
Nothing in his experience helped him prepare for the aftermath of the fire.
“I went to Bible college to be a music minister,” he said. “Construction, that’s not something they teach to music majors. That’s not something they really teach period.”
He said it was the congregation that most came through.
“Our trustee board, our deacon board, some of them have construction companies,” he said. “Some of them are contractors, and they were able to help out so much.”
The church’s first Sunday in the newly rebuilt sanctuary was last week.
“We have 175 Sunday morning,” Stripling said. “That’s about our normal crowd.” The facility is also a little bigger.
“We added about 2,200 square feet,” Stripling said. “We had plans to expand before the fire, and now we have.”
