`A setback to a comeback'
Church to move forward after water damages building
Members of a northeast Oklahoma City church met at another house of worship Sunday after their church building sustained extensive water damage due to burst water pipes.
The Rev. James Harris Jr. and his Antioch Institutional Baptist Church congregation gathered for services at Ebenezer Baptist Church while efforts to clean out and assess the damage to their church continued.
Harris said Antioch's church secretary and a building trustee called him Thursday to say a homeowner near the church, 507 N Bath Circle, noticed water running from the church and spilling out onto the street. Burst water pipes commonly occur when the pipes freeze during the kind of recordsetting frigid temperatures that recently beset much of Oklahoma for several days.
“They told me that the water was rushing out and I said `Rushing out?' When I got down here and saw it, it blew my mind. It was terrible,” the preacher said.
Water damaged the church's fellowship hall and the newer of two sanctuaries where new carpet had been installed about seven months ago. Harris said the water damage extended from the front of the church to the back, where his office is located, and included an organ amplifier and some other equipment near the altar.
The minister said water pressure from the burst pipes was so great that water burst from electric outlets and other places in the walls of some rooms, ruining the church's audio visual equipment and other items.
A crew from a water damage restoration service had pumped most of the water out of the sanctuary and several rooms by Saturday and they were
working on the fellowship hall on Saturday, which Harris said “looked like a pond” at one point. Blowers were set up throughout the building to dry it out.
Harris said a private contractor will have to be hired to tear out damaged dry wall and an electrician will have to determine the extent of the electrical damage.
Harris said the church will be 100 years old in 2022. He became pastor in September 2020 and divides his time between the church and his full-time job. Larry Thompson, a member of the church's outreach team, said the church was in the midst of revitalization after Harris was chosen as pastor, growing from about seven members to 60 members.
Determined to find a place to worship on Sunday, Harris called the Rev. Derrick Scobey, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist, to find out if his congregation could meet at Scobey's
church through March while Antioch leaders address the current crisis.
Harris said the church has insurance but he's unsure what ultimately will be covered. He said the congregation must meet its deductible, and other unexpected expenses related to the water damage may come up.
Still, he said, he and his church members do not feel down because the current situation is only “a setback to a comeback.”
“I didn't want our members to be discouraged and they aren't. It might sound strange, but we're thankful for this season. They are excited and they want to continue the momentum we've had,” he said.
The minister said he doesn't consider his church displaced because they are meeting at Ebenezer, which opened its doors without hesitation. Scobey said he and Harris would meet together soon with the deacons and trustees of their respective churches to determine what their future together might look like.
“I'm grateful and I”m thankful because even in the midst of all of this, God has a blessing,” Harris said. “Even in the midst of the storm, He's got a blessing.”