Church rises from ashes

By Garrett Stack, The Herald Bulletin

July 02, 2009 11:59 am

— ANDERSON — As flames leapt up and ignited the roof of Bethel United Methodist Church, few members of the congregation could have imagined that part of their church would burn to the ground that day.
On June 24 at around 7:30 a.m., there was a collision between two cars at the intersection of Layton Rd. and County Road 200 South.
Usually, car crashes end in crumpled metal, shattered glass, and often a trip to the hospital. But on this particular Wednesday, an unfortunate stroke of luck left the Bethel church charred, and a congregation without a home.
The collision caused one of the cars, which was driven by Gregory Scott of Anderson, to spin off the road and strike the wall of Bethel United Methodist Church.
The car caught fire, and although the church walls are made of stone, flames spread up the building and set alight the roof, which began to burn very quickly.
Scott escaped the burning vehicle with the help of two passers-by who witnessed the accident, and no one was seriously injured in the crash.
But the church was heavily damaged. The roof of one wing of the building collapsed, and smoke damaged the rest of the church, including the sanctuary where services are held.
“Everything was covered in the finest coating of black soot,” said Brian Bays, finance chair person and trustee for Bethel church. “It looked like someone spray-painted it.”
The education wing of the building was completely destroyed and will have to be rebuilt. The sanctuary and a few offices were only damaged by smoke and heat from the main blaze however, and might be able to reopen as early as August.
“Right now we are checking to make sure the sanctuary is structurally sound,” Bays said. “We need new paint, new carpet, and a new sound and video system in the sanctuary, but the education portion will have to be demolished.”
The education wing could take nine months to rebuild, said Ed Miller, who owns Midwest General Contractors Inc.
“The whole building trap-doored, so everything came down inside the building,” said Miller, whose company is bidding for the contract to rebuild the church. “The brick walls may come down, but we don’t know yet.”
Many local churches offered to help in any way they could, some even offering to alter their service times so that they could share their space with the Bethel Methodist congregation.
“I suppose at least 50 or 60 churches locally of all denominations have offered to help,” said Bill Garver, new pastor for the church. “There’s been an outpouring of support from the community.”
Garver was set to begin as the pastor on July 5, but he decided to move in a little early to help his church through this difficult time.
“The members of Bethel church are wonderful,” he said. “They’ve really pulled together and are setting themselves up to get more active in the community.”
In the meantime, the church will have services at the banquet hall at the Edgewood Country Club until the sanctuary reopens after it has been cleaned of smoke damage.
“The church started as a small white frame on this corner in 1866 and five generations of my family have worshipped here,” Bays said. “The church has been here for 143 years, this is where God wants us to be.”

Bethel United Methodist Church will hold Sunday services at the banquet hall of the Edgewood Country Club until their sanctuary has been repaired from the smoke damage. Services will be led by the new pastor, Bill Garver, and will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. It will likely be at least a month before the sanctuary has been repaired enough for services to be held there once again.

Contact Garrett Stack: 640-4878, garrett.stack@heraldbulletin.com

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