Building's blaze doesn't extinguish church's fire for ministry

April 29, 2002

Building blaze doesn't extinguish church's fire for ministry
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___SEABROOK--First Baptist Church in Seabrook needs three bands to play in an outreach effort the last Friday nights of May, June and July. The church also could use volunteers to help in a ministry to the El Jardin community a few miles from the church.
___And, by the way, the church's underinsured building burned Feb. 10.
___That's the order of priorities at the Seabrook church. The church has not been distracted from its main mission of evangelism by the fire, according to Pastor

THE BUILDING of First Baptist Church of Seabrook is a total loss after a Sunday morning blaze struck. The church continues to focus on community ministry, however.

Rob Purdy.
___"That's been our focus from the beginning--that we're not going to let this distract us from our purpose," he explained. "We're not going to be blown about by the winds but guided by our compass, Jesus Christ."
___As evidence, the church has kept up its strong emphasis on ministry to the El Jardin community. This is the third year the church will take its Vacation Bible School there. Youth Director Cheryl Harrison makes at least eight trips a week to the community transporting children back to the church for Sunday School, church and Wednesday night Bible study, as well as making ministry visits in homes.
___"El Jardin is a very diverse community," Harrison said. "It represents both wealth and poverty. There are about 450 households, and there is a high ratio of broken homes, substance abuse and crime. Our hearts are in the mission work God is doing in here."
___Last year, the church petitioned the homeowner's association to let it begin the Friday night concert series, "Final Friday, Band by the Bay." This year, the homeowner's association beat the church to the punch and invited it to come back--a sign the church's ministry is beginning to bear fruit, Purdy said.
___College- and high school-age volunteers from other churches would be a great help, both Harrison and Purdy said.
___"We cover the gamut here on ages from 18 to 98," Purdy said of the church's membership. "But we're a little heavier on the higher end of the scale."
___Harrison especially needs bands to play for Friday night concerts. She would like for at least one of them to be a praise and worship band and another "a little louder, but with words that can be understood."
___She may be contacted at fbcseabrook@yahoo.com.
___The church's fire happened on a Sunday morning. Purdy said he smelled smoke during the Sunday School hour, but it was not until people began gathering in the sanctuary for worship that the blaze was discovered.
___The fire started in the attic due to a heater malfunction. It spread throughout the attic undetected. "As far as we and the fire investigators know, ours is the only church to burn down with people in it," Purdy said.
___The church was a total loss, with demolition of the standing walls scheduled for May. The church does not expect to begin meeting in its own facilities again for at least a year.
___"The building was insured for its value, but not its replacement cost," Purdy said. Damage was estimated at more than $700,000.
___The church now is meeting in a variety of locations. Preschoolers are meeting in their teacher's home for Sunday School. The children and youth are meeting in an annex of the church that was not damaged. Adults meet in the cafeteria of an elementary school across the street.
___Morning worship services are held in the gymnasium of the school. The Baptists meet with the Seabrook United Methodist Church for Sunday and Wednesday evening services.
___Yet the ministry continues.
___"We wouldn't have planned it this way, but as we read Scripture we can find nowhere that ministry is dependent on a building," Purdy said. One of his proudest moments as a pastor, he said, was as he listened to members of the congregation give television interviews the day of the fire and repeatedly point out that church was not destroyed, only the building.
___One of the best stories resulting from the fire is that of Lee Martin, the pastor said. First Baptist Church had been praying for about 18 months for someone to run its new sound system. The day of the fire, Purdy was giving a television interview that Martin saw.
___Although he lived in another part of Houston, Martin showed up the next Sunday at the school where the church is meeting. "God told me to be here," he said.
___Since then, Martin and his wife have professed faith in Christ and are scheduled to be baptized the next time First Baptist holds a baptismal service at Maranatha Baptist Church. Martin now runs the sound system.
___The reason the church didn't stop its ministry to the community to take care of its own needs is simple, Harrison said. "We don't have time for that; we have to much work to do."
___

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