Carrying on
The Rev. Jerry Sponseller got a rude awakening just before 4 a.m. March 13 when a church member called to say the church was burning. This week he’s watching crews starting to rebuild the burned areas, and is thankful it wasn’t worse. “Another 10 minutes and we would have lost the whole building,” he said. “We feel pretty blessed, actually.”
The fire at Opportunity Baptist Church was reported shortly after 3 a.m. that Sunday, the first of six fires in the area that are believed to have been set by the same person. All the blazes involved items being set on fire and shoved against the outside of buildings. The other fires occurred at homes, almost all of which were occupied. One elderly woman barely escaped after being alerted by a smoke detector.
Sponseller said fire investigators told him that two floor mats in front of the church doors had been set aflame. He’s just glad the arsonist never got inside the church. “There’s no telling what would have happened if he got in the building,” he said.
The church’s entryway was the most severely damaged. The ceiling is gone, leaving only blackened supports and fluorescent lights dangling down. It will probably have to be stripped to the studs and rebuilt, Sponseller said.
Two bathrooms are soot stained and have holes in the ceiling. The sanctuary smells of smoke and has a large hole in the ceiling. The kitchen and a room used to care for toddlers also were damaged. “Amazing what a little bit of fire can do,” Sponseller said.
The rooms are all bare now. Everything has been removed in the hopes that it can be cleaned and saved. Some chairs have already been cleaned and put in the Sunday school building where the church’s 50 members have been meeting for services.
The small room that is the temporary sanctuary also has five pews, the pockets stuffed with hymnals and Bibles rescued from the burned church. But there’s not enough to go around, so church members share them. “We’re making do,” Sponseller said. “There’s not nearly as many as there used to be.”
Ken Sharp has been a member of the church since 1982. A deacon for many years, he helps maintain the church building and mows the grass during the summer. He also was awakened abruptly by a phone call on March 13 when Sponseller called to tell him the church was on fire. “I wasn’t ready to wake up,” Sharp said. “I had him repeat it.”
Sharp, like several other members, hurried to the church to do what he could. Everyone scrambled to set up a temporary worship space in a classroom usually used for Bible study in a small portable building next to the church. “We had our service,” Sharp said.
The church was founded in 1974 and members initially met at the Valley Hazen and Jaeger Funeral Home chapel while the church, 13620 E. Broadway Ave., was being built. When news of the fire got out, Sponseller got a phone call offering to let church members meet in the chapel again. “I thought that was really special,” he said.
While both Sharp and Sponseller are glad the damage wasn’t more severe, Sponseller is also thankful for the umbrella policy the church added to the insurance two years ago even though it was a financial hardship for the small congregation. “A regular policy only covers specific things,” he said.
Now Sponseller expects the entire rebuilding effort to be covered by insurance. “If the congregation hadn’t sacrificed and paid the insurance, we never would have been able to do this.”
The reconstruction is being done by Capstone Construction. The insurance company said it expects the work to cost at least $150,000, Sponseller said. The work should be done by mid-June. Meanwhile, church members are carrying on. They meet for worship and Bible study every Sunday. The Monday morning prayer group gathers as usual.
“We’re trying to carry on and be as consistent as we can be,” he said. “This is just a little interlude.
“We’ve been able to have services. It’s been a real exciting time with everyone pulling together. We can’t let this stop us.”
Sharp can find a blessing in what has happened to the little church. “It’s made us realize how tentative life is,” he said. It’s brought home the knowledge that it’s not about material things, but about each person’s faith. Sharp has found himself more focused on worship. “You get caught up in doing things in a repetitive way, like going to church.”
Sharp said he isn’t angry at whoever set the church on fire. “I’m not here to pass judgment on him. I pray for that guy.”