ANCHORAGE - They say there's nothing quite like having a warm roof over your head, but Friday night, the members of Abbott Loop Community Church were left out in the cold.
“It's sad, it's terrible, it’s just… there's no words to really describe seeing it like this,” said Joni Baker, who attends the church.
After more than 30 years of providing shelter for worship, basketball games and congregational gatherings, the roof over the church auditorium couldn't hold out any more.
“I’m sure that other churches will come together and let us use their buildings for our services, but I think we'll come out stronger,” Baker said.
In the light of day, Anchorage firefighters say they've passed responsibility for the wreckage back to the congregation.
“We have to leave it to them in a condition where it's safe,” said Al Tamagni of the Anchorage Fire Department. “We had to make sure the utilities were secured, power, electric, water were all turned off, there weren't any more hazards then that, we secured it the best that we could.”
Church leaders say the timing of the collapse was nothing short of providential.
“The night before we had youth group in there, approximately the same time, we would have had worship teams in there then, there would have been dozens of kids,” said Pastor Frank Curry.
As they work with engineers to decide whether to rebuild or start fresh, they say one emotion has risen out of the rubble.
“…Just everyone involved, the fire department, the police department, everybody's been so gracious and helpful, the outpouring has been amazing,” Curry said.
They said it was never even about the roof in the first place. They’re moving forward hand in hand with Anchorage City Church, where they'll be hosting services tomorrow.
“The church is not the building,” Curry said. “The church is the people, the building is the building and we can have services anywhere because we're the church."
The church is still strong.
