Members of burned Cross Plains church rely on donated Bibles

08:45 AM CST on Monday, January 2, 2006

Associated Press

CROSS PLAINS, Texas – As soot from their church's charred ruins swirled around them, about 150 First United Methodist Church members worshipped on a windy Sunday in the parking lot where the ornate building burned in a raging grass fire last week.

LARA SOLT/DMN

Tim Byerly (right) and about 150 other members of the First United Methodist Church prayed in the parking lot of their Cross Plains, Texas, church, which was destroyed in a wildfire.

They sat in folding chairs, read from Bibles and sang praise songs from hymnals donated by local and out-of-town churches, which also loaned a keyboard and sound system. Behind the congregation, yellow caution tape surrounded the shell of the building, where part of a wall crashed loudly into the ash-covered rubble during the service. No one was injured.

"Great buildings will not last," the Rev. Jim Senkel said as the wind whipped his Bible. "Nothing except our relationship [with God] will survive eternity."

The grass fire Tuesday ravaged more than 90 homes and killed two women as it swept through this 1,070-resident town about 115 miles west of Fort Worth. Two other people died last week as at least 100 blazes burned more than 50,000 acres in Texas and Oklahoma amid drought conditions.

At least 20 grass fires sprang up Sunday in the Texas Panhandle, northern and western parts of the state, including one in Carbon in Eastland County just northeast of Cross Plains. Residents were evacuated as the blaze threatened as many as 200 homes, officials said.

Folks in Cross Plains said they worried about more blazes in the area. At the end of the First United Methodist Church service, the crowd turned to look as a fire truck raced by with sirens blaring.

"Lord, help us," one woman whispered.

The church was built in the 1980s but founded in 1886. Mr. Senkel said members wanted to worship at the site Sunday to kick off the church's yearlong 120th anniversary celebration. The local Presbyterian church, which has a small congregation, has offered its sanctuary to the Methodist church until it rebuilds.

The church, which has insurance, plans to demolish the burned structure this week and plan a new church.

Mr. Senkel, who has been the church's pastor since June, and his wife plan to move into one of several houses offered by church members. The couple lost their belongings when the parsonage burned.

Debi Bennett, 41, said Sunday's service was emotional because of the lost memories. Her four daughters were baptized in the church, and her youngest, now 8, was the baby Jesus in the Nativity scene during a Christmas play when she was just 10 days old.

"It's surreal. I'm still in shock," Ms. Bennett said, wiping away tears. "But we're very determined to rebuild, because it's just so important that we raise our children in the church."