September 23, 2002
Blaze levels 53-year-old building
at country church outside Childress
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___CAREY--The weeping of its members seemed to flow a river, but that was not enough to douse the flames that incinerated a West Texas church Sept. 13.
___The blaze at First Baptist Church of Carey was discovered shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night, Sept. 12, but firefighters from nearby Childress could not bring the blaze under control. The 53-year-old building finally collapsed about 4:30 a.m. the next morning.
___Many church members were on hand to mourn the loss of their church home and the community's last remaining symbol of identity. Carey lost its post office several years ago and now shares a post office and ZIP code with Childress.
PASTOR Randy Wilson (left) and deacon Cloyce Holeman stand in front of the collapsed and burned building of First Baptist Church of Carey. A problem with a hot water heater used for the baptistry is the suspected cause of the blaze that leveled the 53-year-old building.
___The church now will meet in the Childress City Auditorium because Carey doesn't have a community center of any sort. "Our church was the closest thing we had to that," Pastor Randy Wilson said.
___The night of the fire was heartbreaking, Wilson said.
___"About 50 people showed up and watched it burn through the night and cried, like I did," Wilson recalled. "But through their tears, they were still saying, 'We're going to rebuild.'"
___The 89-year-old chairman of deacons, Cloyce Holeman, said there is no question about rebuilding.
___"We're definitely going to rebuild," Holeman said. "I was here when we built this building in 1949, and it's a warm spot for me. I really think it is something that is going to bring our congregation together."
___The building was insured for the full amount the insurance company would allow, but the church still will need an estimated $100,000 more to replace the structure.
___"The shame is that this was such a nice building," Wilson said. "It wasn't new, but it was well maintained and just had a nice feel to it. Things like this aren't supposed to happen, but I guess they do."
___Wilson came to the church in 1999, his first pastorate.
___The blaze ended in what firefighters called a "complete burn," Wilson said. The extent of the destruction made it impossible to determine an exact cause of the fire, but fire officials theorize a 90-gallon hot water heater used to heat baptismal waters for the upcoming Sunday morning may have started it.
___Looking on the bright side, Holeman pointed out that since the building burned completely, that would lessen the cost of clearing the site for a new building. A new building can accommodate the growing congregation, the pastor added.
___Even so, this is not the way the pastor or the congregation would have chosen to build additional space.
___Wilson asked for prayer for the congregation that runs about 75 people most Sunday mornings, and "anything else God puts on people's hearts to give or to do. It'll take a lot more money than the insurance company is going to give us to rebuild, but God will see us through."
___
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