Historic church roof collapses
Pastor of fallen church devastated as members seek funds to rebuild
Pastor Frank Tillman Jr. tried his best over the last two decades to keep the Christian Fellowship Center and the Church of God in Christ standing with the few resources he had.
The leader of a congregation of only about 50 members, Mr. Tillman said the church simply did not have enough income to replace the entire roof on the building, which had been upright since 1861.
The efforts to replace the leaking slate roof in sections was like a game of whack-a-mole, patching up cracks only for the next area to leak soon after.
Those temporary fixes were not enough in the end, and the McClure Street church in Woods Run came crumbling down Monday, marking the end of a run for a historic landmark that, according to Mr. Tillman, once was used as an “acting force” in the Underground Railroad.
“We were not negligent. We did the best we could with the little bit that we had to work with,” Mr. Tillman said Thursday, speaking through pauses and tears shed for his church home. “The damage was too much to overcome, and it eventually overcame us.”
No one was inside the church at the time. Mr. Tillman planned to reopen the doors on Sunday after the church closed for services due to COVID-19.
Marcie Kemmler and her father, Don, owner of Don’s Diner, which sits a half-a-block away from the church, said her family witnessed the entire collapse as they stood outside their 25-year-old restaurant. Ms. Kemmler’s dad had just walked to his home next door to the church when she said the ground suddenly began to shake.
“The telephone poles started like moving and bending. They were bending down, and all of a sudden the wires popped,” she said.
The street became filled with debris and black smoke, and Ms. Kemmler was immediately fearful that her father had been hurt. She dialed 911 while her son ran to a back alley to try to save his grandfather, as he later told Ms. Kemmler that the church looked like a “big hole” that was “sucking everything down into it.”
She said that she gets chills thinking about the moment she realized her dad was OK and had entered his home just before the
church came crashing down. The event felt like an earthquake, Ms. Kemmler said, noting the dirt and debris that filled the streets.
“We were having trouble breathing … it was devastating. I actually had trouble sleeping that night,” she said.
Mr. Tillman felt the devastation on another level. He said he felt like someone ripped his heart out of his chest and was devastated when he heard the news, but he was thankful that no one was hurt.
A deacon was cutting the grass and preparing the grounds to welcome back the congregation only hours earlier, Mr. Tillman said, but he left because he started having chest pains.
“If [the deacon] would have been there, he would have died,” Mr. Tillman said.
The pastor said emotions this week have been soothed by the support he is receiving from the community and other pastors who have offered him their churches to host services for the Christian Fellowship Center congregation.
Mr. Tillman said community members are working on starting a GoFundMe to raise money for rebuilding. In the meantime, he will continue to hold services by conference call as he did during the pandemic closures.
“So many rich memories [happened there]. Funerals, weddings, celebrations, conventions. So many blessings and memories, and it hurts that we can no longer use that building as an inspiration and an outlet for people that need help.”