Church Rebuilding After Storm Damage

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — The Pleasant Hill Baptist Church near New Hope was devastated by the tornadoes that ripped through Lowndes County in April 2014.

More than 50 trees came down, six roofs removed and worse of all, the main house of worship came toppling down. 10,000 square feet lost.

“When the tornado came through, it actually lifted the roof off and set it right back down…”, said Senior Pastor Bill Hurt, “…It wasn’t until later on, the trust started giving away, probably about four months later and then our entire sanctuary was later condemned and then imploded on its own.”

No injuries were reported from those storms.

Hurt, who was in the church property’s basement when the storms rolled through, said in a matter of “thirty seconds”, the landscape had totally changed.

The fellowship has continued their worship in the Fellowship Center on the property, and has had to make many accommodations to keep the Church going.

“We’ve really adjusted very well to it…”, said church regular Boyd Lennon, “…things had to be different, but its worked out really well.”

“God has blessed us with the opportunity to build a state of the art new worship facility…”, said Hurt, “…its going to be larger than our last one, its going to have a more contemporary, traditional look to it.

We’re very excited that the opportunity is ours to be a beacon of light and hope to the community here in New Hope and Pleasant Hill.”

Hurt said the church is expected to be complete in the beginning of January of next year.

“We’ve actually increased in our attendance, increased in giving, increased in Baptisms…”, Hurt explained, “…the Lord has blessed us through this time of adversity and we’re hoping once the new facility is open that even more people will come to find a place of hope and safety, not just from the physical storms, but from the storms of life itself.”