Posted: 5/19/03
Tornado took deacon for a wild ride
By Lonnie Wilkey
Tennessee Baptist & Reflector
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)–A historic church in southern Tennessee was leveled by a tornado May 5, but the survival of one of its deacons was hailed as “a miracle of God.”
The original sanctuary of Oak Hill Baptist Church, built in 1883, was destroyed by the tornado.
| KENNETH Rozar (left) tells Charles Richards of William Carey Baptist Association about his experience during a tornado that struck the Belleville, Tenn., community May 5 and leveled Oak Hill Baptist Church. |
The tornado struck the church shortly before noon, flattening the 120-year-old sanctuary. Two later additions, one on each side, were left standing but received extensive damage.
The church's parsonage also was severely damaged, forcing the pastor and his wife to seek lodging in a local hotel. The tornado caused extensive damage to 12 to 15 homes in Belleville, about 70 miles south of Nashville.
Kenneth Rozar, a deacon at Oak Hill, went to the church shortly before noon on May 5 when he learned a tornado was headed in that direction. When he arrived at the church, he heard what seemed like an explosion, he said.
The tornado picked up his truck, with him inside, and carried him over the church. He recalled seeing the pews still standing as he dove onto the floorboard of the truck. The tornado threw Rozar's truck into a telephone pole, cutting it in two. It came to rest about 150 feet from where it became airborne.
“It is an act of God he is here today,” Pastor Charles Brown said.
Rozar, who suffered a slight concussion and some broken ribs, was taken to a hospital but later released.
“I'm alive by a miracle of God,” said Rozar, who has been a member of the church since 1974.
The congregation is seeking a place to meet while deciding if rebuilding will be possible.
When church members last met the Sunday night before the storm, Rozar recalled, their lesson focused on the church being the people and not the building. “That lesson didn't mean much Sunday night, but it means a lot more now,” he said.
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