The members of Sandy Run Baptist Church, Hampton, held an emotional groundbreaking ceremony on March 8.

Sixteen months after the church’s 103-year-old sanctuary was destroyed by fire, members held a worship service in the social hall that survived the blaze, then moved outdoors to form a human cross on the bare earth where a new worship center will be erected.

“The saints have persevered,” said pastor Paul Reid. “The church is relieved and thanking God for having come to this point.”

As church members organized themselves into the shape of a cross, a local newspaper photographer climbed into a hydraulic lift bucket attached to the bed of a Palmetto Electric Co-Op truck and was lifted high into the air to snap pictures.

After singing “The Church’s One Foundation,” everyone dug their shovels into the earth, leaving behind a visible sign of the cross in the middle of the building site.

“All agree that God has already begun a spiritual reconstruction in the body of Sandy Run Baptist Church,” said Reid. “Thanks be to God.”