June 3, 2002
First came the wind, then the fire
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___HAPPY--Fire completed what wind began at First Baptist Church in Happy.
___A mere 18 days after a tornado flung the roofs from the education building and part of the sanctuary, a fire destroyed the entire church facility.
___The calamity has left Pastor Paul Burwash looking to see what's next--and he's excited about the possibilities.
Smoke and flames billow from the building of First Baptist Church of Happy.
___"I believe, if anything, we'll have a tendency to grow faster than we would have," Burwash said of the church's resilience. "I'm really excited to see what God is going to do with us.
___"For awhile now, we've been praying for revival and a spiritual hunger in our community. And with all the devil is throwing at us, I've got to believe God has great things in store for us."
___The May 5 twister ripped the roof from the rafters of the education building and left a gouge in the sanctuary roof. The damage to the roof almost was repaired when the May 23 blaze began, Burwash said.
___"We were two hours from having the roof on," he said. "We had done a tremendous amount of work. We were almost in the dry. We were to meet with the contractor the next morning to start having the shingles put on. We were two days from having our sanctuary back. That was the real letdown. That's what made people sad."
___He admitted being among members who were emotionally distraught as the building burned to the ground. "Thursday night, I was pretty tore up."
___The days after the conflagration have given him a new perspective.
___"Now the only thing we have to worry about is meeting people's needs," he said. "We've been ministering to people who lost their homes in the tornado, but our building has been taking a lot of time too. Now we don't have a building to worry about."
First Baptist Church of Happy's educational wing, which had completely lost its roof in a recent tornado, had been well on its way to being recovered when the fire broke out. Fire engulfs the educational wing.
___Just as First Baptist Church continues to minister to its community, the town also ministers to the church.
___"The community has been absolutely wonderful to us. The funeral home in town had bought a Presbyterian church and remodeled it to use as a chapel. The director came by and gave me the keys and said it was ours as long as we need it," Burwash said. "They're not members of our church or anything like that, just good Christian people."
___Gifts from people and churches across the Panhandle have come in. "People have just poured out love on us," Burwash said. "Our extended family--God's churches of a number of denominations from around our area and really throughout the Panhandlehave been great."
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas also has helped the church not only with financial assistance, but also with expertise in planning what to do next.
___Burwash especially was thankful for a call from the convention's executive director. "The BGCT has been great," he said. "Charles Wade called the night of the fire, and I got to pray with him. That was a really nice thing."
___Gifts to the church totaled about $30,000, he added. Better news is that insurance may cover the cost of rebuilding.
___But "that $30,000 will help with the incidentals that always come up in any project," he said. "We're very grateful to God's people for their gifts."
___While the chapel the church is being loaned is smaller than its former sanctuary, the church is grateful to have it, Burwash said.
___"Everything has been real encouraging. We know it's going to be a little crowded, but it's a former Presbyterian church. It has the feel of God's house, because that's what it's always been," he said. "While meeting at the school or the community center would have worked, there is just something about worshipping in a place that is dedicated to God."
___All of which leaves him with great expectations.
___"God has great things in store for us," he said. "We're on a journey that will end with God being glorified and us at a place we never thought we'd be."
___
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