ANNISTON, Ala. – “To God be the glory, great things He has done,” rang opening praise at First Baptist Church of Saks in Anniston, Ala., Sunday, Jan. 12, morning, glorifying God for stemming damage when a tornado flew over the church and community the previous day.
“The weather report for Saks … said that a tornado did go over here,” senior pastor Kenneth Todd Stewart said Monday, Jan. 13. “But evidently it stayed fairly high, because mainly it was steeples and tree tops and power lines [damaged]. Even the homes that got damaged were mainly from trees falling on them, as opposed to the tornado itself touching down and wiping a big path.”
The disaster relief team at the Calhoun Baptist Association (CBA), where First Baptist of Saks is a member church, deployed 19 men and women Saturday, Jan. 11, and Sunday who completed 160 hours of disaster relief work in the county, CBA Director of Missions Roger Willmore said.
In a tornado that touched down in Pickens County, Ala., about 160 miles southwest of Anniston, three people were killed, the Weather Channel reported.
The Alabama tornadoes were included in a line of severe weather that struck Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Ohio variously with tornadoes, thunderstorms, high winds, ice and heavy rains that left 11 dead, according to reports from news sites including the Weather Channel, the National Weather Service and International Business Times.
Reported deaths included three in northwest Louisiana, two from an EF2 tornado near Haughton, La., and one when high winds toppled a tree northwest of Shreveport; three deaths in Texas, one in Nacogdoches County from a downed tree and two first responders hit by a car while responding to an accident caused by icy roads in Texas; and a man who drowned from flooding in Oklahoma, according to reports.
Damage to First Baptist Church of Saks was minimal, the pastor said, including a toppled steeple and water damage.
“Our damage to our facility … was minimal in that the entire steeple blew over, laid down on its side, but it did not fall off of the building,” Stewart said. “We lost a few shingles, but nothing extensive.”
With the steeple toppled, water damaged ceiling tiles and part of the sanctuary, which will need to be cleaned, he said. As advised by the church’s insurance, the church removed the damaged steeple Sunday morning to prevent additional water damage, and sealed the roof. The church canceled Sunday School and worshipped in the congregation’s Christian Life Center.
“Worship went forward, and people gave thanks and praised God that things were not worse than they were,” Stewart said. The church expressed “thanksgiving unto the Lord that His hand of providence and protection was with our people and our community. We actually opened our service with ‘To God Be the Glory.’ Great things he has done, indeed.”
Two other Alabama churches, Edgewater Baptist Church in Bessemer and Valley Grove Baptist Church in Tuscumbia, also suffered minor damage, confirmed Mark Wakefield, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions disaster relief coordinator.
The CBA disaster relief team removed trees that had fallen on two homes, cleaned driveways and roadways of fallen trees, installed a tarp roof on a home and drove many miles assessing damage. The team also presented the gospel to two homeowners, Willmore said, and will follow up with them as recovery continues.
“[Presenting the gospel] is part and parcel of our disaster relief efforts,” Willmore said, “and our team considers that a very important part of our mission.”
CBA disaster relief director Scotty Duke had a team on standby before the storms hit, Willmore said, and was able to deploy volunteers immediately.
Written by Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.