MAGEE, Miss. (BP)–A line of storms that raked Mississippi in the pre-dawn hours of March 26 injured at least 17 people, splintered dozens of houses, flattened a Southern Baptist congregation’s building — and upended wedding plans for one of that church’s young couples.
Maegan Errington, 23, was planning to be married Saturday at Corinth Baptist Church in Magee, but on Thursday morning — her birthday — she found herself standing in the rubble of the church building, wondering what would happen to her wedding plans.
Perhaps symbolically, the only part of the church building that survived the storm was the sanctuary’s double doors, according to the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer.
Church member Charlene Loyd hugged her young friend and told her, “Our church is still here, because our church is the people,” the Ledger-Enquirer reported.
The congregation’s baptistery and the steps leading up to the front door also survived the storm, which struck about 1:30 a.m., “but everything else is just gone,” reported Tony Martin, associate editor of the Baptist Record, newsjournal of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. “The building is destroyed but the church still stands,” pastor Jay Westbrooks told Martin.
No fatalities from the storm had been reported, according to news reports. The storm was part of a severe weather system that swept several Southern states. In Louisiana, tens of thousands of residents were left without electricity and in Alabama damage was reported to several houses. Mississippi was drenched with heavy rain.
Another tornado struck Mississippi’s Lauderdale County about midday March 25, damaging nine homes and a business, according to the Associated Press.
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Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.
