{"id":35518,"date":"2022-05-16T09:33:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T13:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=35518"},"modified":"2022-05-16T09:33:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T13:33:15","slug":"georgia-pastor-back-behind-pulpit-after-church-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/local\/georgia-pastor-back-behind-pulpit-after-church-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia pastor back behind pulpit after church fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WRIGHTSVILLE<\/a> — The pastor of a Georgia church that lost a historic building to fire was be back in the pulpit on Sunday, sharing a message of hope with his congregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod\u2019s got this, and we can trust Him,\u201d said Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Pastor Chris Mitchell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire that authorities have preliminarily said may have started in the kitchen destroyed a fellowship hall that dates back to 1879.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Facebook post on Friday, Mitchell said the damage was disheartening for lots of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know there are many wonderful memories associated with our fellowship hall, but remember our God is a good, holy, righteous, and perfect God, and He will comfort us and guide us in our time of need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charred structure served as the sanctuary when it was built 143 years ago.  In addition to serving as a house of worship, it also doubled as a school in the early years. It became the fellowship hall after a new sanctuary was built nearby in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell said the local resident had strong sentimental ties to the historic building because it had been the venue for many weddings, funerals, and baptisms over more than a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church leaders plan to discuss next steps on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell, a former missionary to Uganda, said members of his congregation know they can trust God in the rebuilding process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst, we\u2019re going to pray and get on the same page with God,\u201d he said. \u201cThrough that, I believe God is going to prepare us to make plans. And we just believe God is going to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The building was insured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell said firefighters think an intellectually disabled 30-year-old man who had walked away from a nearby group home may have accidentally started the fire after finding his way inside the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey believe he was trying to cook something,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WXGA-TV in Macon reported that Johnson County deputies and a deacon heard the man yelling for help and got him out of the building. The man was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for possible smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state fire marshal’s office is investigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[mailerlite_form form_id=2]\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pastor of a Georgia church that lost a historic building to fire was be back in the pulpit on Sunday, sharing a message of hope with his congregation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5790],"tags":[9745,9746],"class_list":["post-35518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-johnson-county","tag-wrightsville","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}