JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. — Enon Baptist Church weathered the storm, even though its building did not.
Less than one week after Hurricane Helene ravaged Enon’s facilities, church members gathered for their Wednesday night activities as normal, albeit in a different location. They met at a nearby Methodist church, whose pastor had graciously invited the Enon members to hold their services.
Enon pastor Keith Malone said he felt it was vital for his church to continue moving forward in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“I told our members that I didn’t want there to be any lag,” Malone said. “I told them right away – we are going to meet somewhere. And then things all worked out with the Methodist church.”
That is not to say, however, that the Enon members aren’t dealing with great sadness after their building was deluged with 9 feet of water in the sanctuary.
“We’re looking at a total loss, there’s no doubt about that,” Malone said. “And I would ask that everyone please keep us in their prayers. … We’ve got some big decisions to make here in the very close future in terms of what we are going to do and how we are going to do it.”
Although several families in the congregation were left without homes, no lives were lost. “All my church members survived and no immediate family members were lost – so that was the biggest blessing of all,” Malone said.
The church, which has an average attendance of 70-85 people on Sunday mornings, has experienced significant growth since Malone arrived as pastor three years ago. At that time, attendance was only about 10 people.
“God has been good, that’s all I can say,” Malone said.
Malone said God’s presence was felt again and again following the storm, including a miraculous turn of events that took place while he was surveying the damage.
“When I got into the sanctuary on Saturday afternoon, we saw that our communion table that sits right in front of the pulpit had shifted all the way across the room — but the table was sitting straight up and the Bible was still on the table. It had not moved,” he said.
“So, I told one of our youth, hey, we need to get the Bible and get it out of here,” he said. “I figured it was destroyed, but I still wanted to keep it. But when the other guys got over there to it, they yelled over to me, ‘Hey, this Bible is not even wet!’ And I said, ‘Do what?’”
Malone said it was at that point he realized the Bible had blown open. “It was opened to the 49th chapter of Isaiah,” he said. “And just to paraphrase that chapter, the Lord is talking about how the land needs to be cleansed because it’s not going to be big enough for what God has in store for His people.”
Malone said he felt the passage was speaking directly to him and the church members.
“That was God’s way of reassuring us that He is here with us and He’s going to sustain us through it all,” Malone said. “He said He’d never leave us or forsake us. We’ve just got to trust Him. It’s just amazing to know that the hand of God could be seen throughout this situation.”
When he arrived at the church following the storm, Malone said the damage he saw was devastating.
“The inside of our sanctuary looks like clothes that have been in a washing machine,” he said. “Our pews were stacked on top of each other, flipped up on their ends or completely upside down. Just total devastation. It was heart-wrenching.”
In the hours following the storm, the pastor from the nearby United Methodist church reached out to Malone, and they set up a meeting.
The Methodist pastor offered Malone the use of their facilities, beginning immediately. Soon, a plan was in place.
“We set it up to have our Wednesday night services, like our kids’ programs, at that church,” Malone said. “And on Sundays, we are going have our worship services at their church at 12:30 (p.m.), after their service is over.”
Enon Baptist did not have insurance, so there is no way for Malone – or anyone else – to know what the future holds for the church. But this much, Malone said, is certain: The church will move ahead.
“We’re going to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back to the business of God,” he said.
This article originally appeared in the Baptist and Reflector.
