Belleview Baptist Church, near Park Hills, Missouri, lost their building Dec. 9 in a fire. “It’s probably a total loss,” Bob Curtis, director of missions for the Mineral Area Baptist Association, said. “They’re in a holding pattern, waiting on insurance.”
Church members Clifton and Brenda Sohn, who have a music ministry in the church, said the fire began between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m.
Although it will likely be weeks before both a fire marshal’s report and an insurance assessment are complete, early indications are the fire may have been electrical in nature.
“They think it might have been electrical in the bell tower,” Sohn said. The building is destroyed — the auditorium, the entryway, the basement, the bell tower. It’s a total loss.”
Two rooms had water and smoke damage, and there was ceiling damage as firefighters tore into the upper areas to make sure there was no fire.
‘Keeping the doors open’
Despite the devastating loss of the building for the members, Sohn said they plan to keep holding services.
“We’re a small church family. We average 10 on Sunday mornings,” Sohn said. “But we’ll get together and meet and discuss options. We’ve been faithful keeping the doors open even after COVID. God’s got a plan for us. The community needs the church to see God’s people keeping the church open and ministering to the area.”
“Everything we do is a seed planted,” Sohn added. “God gives the increase.”
The church has been without a pastor for over two years, yet they keep having Sunday morning services and having business meetings.
“We’re just doing what we believe Jesus would want us to do,” Sohn said.
Curtis said several churches have reached to him to see how they could help the Belleview congregation. In a Facebook post, Dec. 10, the Mineral Area Baptist Association called Missouri Baptists to pray for the congregation.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Dan Steinbeck and originally published by Missouri’s The Pathway.
