Taylorville | An early morning fire caused extensive damage to the facilities of Taylorville Southern Baptist Church.
Firefighters were called to the church at 3:23 a.m. on Sunday, July 24. Several neighboring fire departments worked together to put out the fire, which took about an hour to get under control, the Springfield State Journal-Register reported. Taylorville’s Assistant Fire Chief Andy Goodall told Regional Radio News that investigators didn’t have a definite cause for the fire following their initial assessment, but were leaning toward electrical malfunction.
The church is currently without a pastor, but several members were on the scene, including church trustee Phyllis Wilson. “As we stayed and watched, I was just really grateful that God would not have anyone in there. Someone could have been hurt badly; the church could have been full,” Wilson told WAND-TV in Decatur.
The fire did extensive damage to the building, but Wilson said the members still have hope.
“It’s a big hit, but you know, we have a great church family and we’re all banding together and we’re going to do what we’ve got to do to make it work. The churches have all contacted us to see what kind of help we need, and they said they would be here for us through the whole thing. So I’m so grateful for our community. We’ll meet somewhere, oh absolutely, even if it’s in a home, we’re going to meet.”
David Howard, director of missions for Capital City Baptist Association, said the association would assist in mobilizing volunteers if there is clean-up or repair work that can be done at Taylorville Southern.
The church, which was founded in 1957, has been meeting in that building since 1976.