THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505060099
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 149 lines
WHEN FIRE RAGED through Holland Baptist Church just before Christmas 1993, an already strong congregational spirit was forged into an iron will to recover and rebuild.
This afternoon, church members will gather with friends and community supporters to dedicate their new sanctuary and to offer thanks for the help - mortal and divine - at the time of their loss and during reconstruction.
While already close, ``the fire pulled us together,'' said Linda Griffin. ``We had to keep on keeping on.''
A member of the church since she and her husband moved to Holland in 1983, Griffin was on the eight-member design committee that led the rebuilding. Reflecting on how overwhelming the responsibility sometimes seemed, she said, ``If we were able to stick together as a group building the church, I think we could do anything.''
``Gentle contemporary'' is how architect Michael Barnes describes the new sanctuary he designed to combine the traditional feeling of the community with the congregation's desire for a building to reflect its fresh beginning.
The red brick, steep roof line and white steeple and cross are traditional, in keeping with the community. Dryvit, a white, stonelike material, adds a contemporary touch to the facade and frames a large, stained-glass window depicting Christ as the good shepherd.
The window, the only large one salvaged from the old sanctuary, is remarkably intact except for one, almost unnoticeable, vertical crack.
The church's expansive interior is dramatically emphasized by light pine beams that sweep upward to a 35-foot-high, peaked ceiling of light pine. The sanctuary will seat about 220 worshipers with room for 75 to 100 more in the mezzanine.
White walls are softened by Appalachian red oak pews and soft spring green pew cushions, upholstery and carpeting.
``Because none of us had any real decorating experience, we went out and videoed other churches to look at styles of pews, chandeliers and carpet colors,'' Griffin said. After weeks of research, the scheme was dictated by smaller stained glass windows that line the sanctuary's side and back walls.
Their soft amber, green and blue hues were lovingly restored by church members after the windows were rescued from the burned-out church.
Charles Elliot, a longtime church member, has spent months refinishing chancel furniture and flower tables plucked from the smoking ruins. Running his hand over the communion table's smooth finish, Elliot knows exactly where to find one small dark spot, the only burn mark that hours of work could not erase.
When Holland Baptist Church was built on its Route 58 site in 1923, it was a neo-Gothic landmark, to be filled with family memories of weddings, baptisms and funerals - as well as 70 years of worship services, church socials and civic gatherings.
Holland Baptist has been part of its rural community since it was founded as a Sunday afternoon Bible class in 1880. Two years later, the first church was built on Route 58.
Forty years later, the congregation moved across the road into a new, larger building on the current church property. The original church remained standing but empty until Christmas Day, 1990, when it was torched - the first of a string of arson fires that plagued Holland for three years.
Griffin, whose husband's business had also fallen victim to the arsonist, remembers that she was immediately suspicious of the 1993 church fire.
``It was a relief to find out that it was not arson,'' she said. The cause was accidental, a stray spark from a roofer's torch had ignited a wooden window frame and it smoldered into an inferno.
At that time, Holland Baptist was without a permanent minister because the former pastor, Charles R. Bell Jr., had been called to another congregation in North Carolina. When Ed Sunday-Winters, Holland's new pastor, arrived in April 1994, he was welcomed by a roofless church with blackened walls and a membership determined to rebuild.
Sunday-Winters called upon a wisdom beyond his years (he was only 30 and Holland was his first full pastoral post) and knew what his role should be.
``My job was to preach on Sunday and let them take care of getting the building built,'' he said. ``The biggest mistake I could have made would have been to try to provide leadership on building the sanctuary.''
Leadership responsibilities fell to Louis Carr, who had only recently retired as supervisor of maintenance for Union Camp. Carr, a member for 42 years and chairman of the church's building and grounds committee had ``no real strong excuse to get out from under the new committee,'' he said modestly.
The building became a full-time job for Carr, who went to the site daily, checking construction and assuring that every step was followed accurately and in the right sequence. Some days and many evenings were taken up with meetings.
``Every detail had to be discussed and decided, talked through and worked out in the committee,'' he said.
Finances were always a concern. ``We are retired farmers, school teachers, and a few that work at the agriculture station and at Union Camp,'' Sunday-Winters said of the church's 300 members. ``The big-money professions are not a part of this congregation.''
Yard sales and other fund-raisers added to the more than $200,000 donated to the church by its members and the community. With the insurance settlement, the new $750,000 church will carry a relatively small mortgage.
Sunday-Winters said no collection plate will be passed at today's dedication service.
``We decided that folks had given so much to us already that it might be a wee bit rude to ask for more.''
The congregation met in the new sanctuary for worship for the first time on Easter Sunday. With construction details finalized and the dust settling, design committee member Joyce Vick sat in a pew, tears of joy running down her cheeks.
``The building had kept us all so busy for so long, and now it was done,'' she said.
As the choral response rang through the church: ``Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place,'' Vick thought quietly. ``He is here watching out for us.'' ILLUSTRATION: BEGINNING ANEW
[Color Photo]
ON THE COVER
``Gentle contemporary'' is how architect Michael Barnes describes
the new sanctuary, which is shown on the cover. Staff photographer
John H. Sheally II took the picture.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
The new Holland Baptist Church's red brick, steep roofline and white
steeple and cross are traditional and in keeping with the
community.
A fresh sign on the lawn tells worshipers they have arrived at the
new sanctary, on Route 58.
The Rev. Ed Sunday-Winters is pleased with the new church. He
arrived in April 1994 to a roofless church with blackened walls.
These stained-glass windows, created in 1923, were the only ones
saved from the fire and are centered over the pulpit at Holland
Baptist. It has a vertical crack, but it is hardly noticeable.
Staff file photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Firefighters respond to the fire that gutted Holland Baptist in
1993. Some of the furnishings were rescued. The fire was ruled
accidental.
File photo
This is how the church on the present site looked before it was
destroyed by fire in 1993. The original church, built in 1923, was
across the street. It burned in 1990, the result of arson.
DEDICATION SERVICE
Today, at 2 p.m. Several former pastors are expected to attend.
A reception will follow in the fellowship hall.
by CNB