With their faces pointed toward the heavens, the members of Garden City Baptist Church watched as pastor Rich McLawhorn put a cross atop their newly reconstructed church.
In a crane bucket, Rich McLawhorn, pastor of Garden City Baptist Church, prepares to be lifted to install a cross at the top of the church’s steeple Oct. 1 at the church in Garden City Beach. The church was burned almost to the ground when it was hit by lightning June 28, 2009.“What a glorious day,” said member Varina Alexander, gazing up at the steeple.
Garden City Baptist Church was burned almost to the ground when it was hit by lightning June 28, 2009.
But McLawhorn said the church has risen from the ashes.
“We have grown over 10 percent since the fire, about 50 new members,” he said.
Two of those new members are Benny and Barbara Green.
The Greens attended the church’s services for the first time the Sunday before the fire. And then, a week later, “we were sitting on the porch watching the fire,” said Benny Green.
He said they didn’t know it was the church that was on fire, but “when it was daylight we came over and looked.”
Since the fire, McLawhorn has been trying to focus on ministry, rather than the building itself.
“Church is the people, not the building,” he said.
Another member who waited to watch McLawhorn put the cross atop the church was one of the people who helped build the original Garden City Baptist Church.
John Henderson was a founding member of the church that began in 1974. He talked about how one of the people laying the foundation for the original church used his bare hands to make sure the line on the foundation was just right, but his hands soon began to crack and bleed, leaving a line in the foundation.
The reconstructed church is better than it ever was, Henderson said.
“Everything is an improvement,” he said.
The chapel and several other parts of the building are still being finished, but the congregation has been able to hold services in the building since February, with a cross salvaged from the fire standing on the stage.
The steeple that was placed on top of the church was the same one that was on the building that burned. It was salvaged from the ruins and restored.
“The part that was closest to God was saved,” said church member Susan Peavy. “I am so excited to see it get put back up.”
Joel Reedy, a deacon at the church, said the church didn’t spend much time mourning the loss of its building.
“The church didn’t skip a beat,” he said.
The morning of the fire, McLawhorn was already trying to figure out where they would hold services that night, Henderson said.
“He says, ‘Where are we going to have church today?’ and I’m standing there thinking, ‘The church is burnt to the ground,’?” Henderson said.
McLawhorn said he was prepared to hold services in the parking lot with a bullhorn if he had to. “God is bigger than a fire,” he said. “And I think I’ve got proof of that.”
After placing the cross from the old building on top of the restored church, he said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a pastor.”
“I do my best to hold up the cross from the pulpit. I did my best to hold the cross up there,” he said.
View more photos at the church’s website.
– Originally published Oct. 2 in the Myrtle Beach Sun News. Reprinted with permission.