Church continues to meet after devastating fire
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CROCKETT COUNTY, Tenn. — A church that was hit by fire twice in a week held their first Sunday morning services after losing their building. Cairo Baptist Church held their service as traditionally and normally as possible, but for many members this is a heartbreaking time. “We still have our church. We don’t have a building, but we have our church,” 16-year member Lynn Ward said. “It broke my heart, but we’re going to be fine.” Pastor Bob Dennison spoke to his congregation, saying this trial by fire is helping them grow. “There’s a lot of emotion involved with it,” Dennison said. “There’s still a lot of sadness and tears that are going on over the loss we have experienced, but at the same time it’s almost like a celebration atmosphere in here.” “It’s a sad situation that we have no building anymore, but the church is still together and we all need each other, and we’re going to grow,” lifelong member Debby Patterson said. The church currently is meeting in their educational building next door to the original church. However, the fact they still own that building has been revealed a blessing in disguise — the church had been trying to sell it for at least a year. “I just want to thank the Lord that we have this building,” Ward said. “We tried to sell it several times, but God kept it here for us.” “We believe that God is in control over everything, and so the fact that this building didn’t sell, he obviously knew that we were going to need it for another time,” Dennison said. “We didn’t sell it, and this is the reason why we didn’t sell it, so we would have a place to worship,” Ward said. The church will continue to meet in the educational building until the church decides what to do with the old building. Dennison said fire officials were unable to determine the cause of the fire but did confirm there was no criminal activity.
