Mississippi tornado leaves couple unscathed in church wreckage: 'God has a future for us'
A powerful tornado tore through a historic church in southern Mississippi over the weekend, leaving the congregation of O'Zion Baptist Church in Meadville to rely on their motto, "Small church, big heart," as they begin to rebuild for a second time from a tornado.
The storm, part of a severe weather outbreak across the South, destroyed much of the church, which was established in 1917, on Saturday night, hurling the steeple into a nearby stand of trees, Fox Weather reports.
The scene on Sunday morning was devastating, with the building reduced to rubble and debris scattered across the grounds. However, one area stood out — a small, clean patch of floor where church members Rick and Diane took cover.
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"After all this, there's one bare spot in this church, about a 6-foot diameter, that has a clean floor. That's where she and I were laying, in that clean spot," Rick told the outlet. "After it was over with, we stood up and, look at this people, we didn't have a splinter on us. We didn't have a speck of dust on us."
This is not the first time O'Zion Baptist Church has faced nature's fury. On May 5, 1934, a tornado also struck the church. Nearly 90 years later, another twister has brought destruction to the community.
"We're all devastated," church secretary Phyllis Daniels Whittington told FOX Weather's Brandy Campbell. "But we know (God) has a future, a bright future for us."
According to local station WAPT, Sunday's service was held outside the rubble of O'Zion Baptist Church despite the wreckage. In the coming weeks and months, church members will meet at a different location while they make plans to rebuild.
The weekend storms caused widespread destruction across the Gulf Coast. Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center, told the Associated Press that there were at least 45 reports of damage from the tornadoes across the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
According to AccuWeather, severe thunderstorms on Saturday were responsible for more than 200 storm reports, including nearly four dozen tornadoes.
At least four people have been killed as a result of the tornadoes, which also left tens of thousands of people without power. Two of the deaths took place in Mississippi, with one more each in Texas and North Carolina.
NWS teams are conducting damage surveys to assess the strength of the tornadoes, including one that hit Franklin County, where O'Zion Baptist Church once stood. The NWS office in Jackson is leading the investigation into the intensity of the storm.
In May, an F1 tornado ripped off the roof of Crossroads Ministries in Finleyville, Pennsylvania, as about 100 people worshiped, yet everyone survived without any significant injuries.
The church's pastor, Rev. Ken Barner, called the outcome "a miracle."
"Folks, I just want you to know that we're standing on the promises of God right now. This is a very big moment for our church, and I know that we will get through this," he said.
"This is just a building folks. I thank God for it. The people who've gone before us, they have done a good job to hand us what they could do, and we've been doing our best to take care of it and really use it for the honor and glory of God, but folks, this is just a building here, and I know that God is really using us as his church," he added. "I want you to know that by next weekend, we will meet somewhere."
