Family Survives Tornado In Church

KOCO.com

Church Building Sustains Extensive Damage In Storm

OKLAHOMA CITY --A father and his three children survived a tornado by seeking shelter in a church.

The church was destroyed in the storm, but the family was able to walk away.

“The children were pretty scared,” said Reid Horton. “I was pretty scared, too.”

Grace Place Baptist was a lifesaving location for Horton and his children on Monday. He said the family was heading home just moments before the tornado hit, and they rushed into the church for safety.

“The metal started to fly off the roof,” Horton said. “I just told my children to get under one of the chairs in the Sunday School classroom. I just know that it was God’s protection of us that the firewall fell into the gym. If it had fallen the other way, it would have fallen onto us.”

Once the storm passed, the family went out the door of the classroom and through the back side of the church, where the walls had been blown down.

“I do not know how they are still alive, except for the grace of God,” said the Rev. Robby Roberson.

He said the building sustained extensive damage. The nearby Friendship Pentecostal Holiness Church was also hit, but no one was inside.

The storm has given the church and its congregation the new mission of rebuilding. Roberson said it’s just a tiny bump in the road.

“It is hard to see it,” Horton said. “It’s a lot of memories.”

The people at Grace Place Baptist Church are looking to rent a location to hold Sunday services. Friendship Pentecostal Holiness Church will be able to use its gymnasium.

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. Psalm 57:1 NIV