By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A storm in August 2019 tore Celebration Community Church in Hays apart, but brought the congregation together.
The church will reopen its worship center this weekend for services for the first time in 10 months.
On Aug. 13, 2019, sustained winds of 90 mph for a half hour blew over the church until the worship center's roof finally peeled away, said Brant Rice, Celebration senior pastor.
About 75 volunteers rushed to the church with flashlights and cell phone to salvage what they could, dragging out 550 chairs and ripping speakers off of walls, Rice said.
The congregation had recently finished the new worship center, only occupying it for 23 months before the storm hit.
They were able to save most of the chairs, which had to be professionally cleaned, but they lost all the electronics and lighting. The total loss was more than $1 million.
Rice said the church was fortunate. Insurance covered everything except the deductible. The church was not forced to do any fundraising to finish the repairs.
'The church isn't a building'
Not only did rain pour into the worship center the night of the storm, it kept raining. About 13 inches of total rain fell into the sanctuary before the church was approved to install a temporary roof.
After each rain, volunteers were in the worship center with squeegees trying to get as much water off the floor as possible, Rice said.
Every piece of sheetrock had to be removed, and workers had to start over from the wall studs. The stage had to be rebuilt and the audio and visual system had to be replaced.
All of the instruments for the contemporary Christian rock worship band, which is signature feature of the church's worship service, was destroyed and had to be replaced.
The first Sunday after the storm, the church staged an outdoor service in its parking lot. The church then moved all of its services into its gym, while repairs were being done on the worship center.
"Our people have been flexible," Rice said. "In 10 months of waiting, I haven't heard one complaint. ... "We have said all along, 'The church isn't a building, its the people.'"
And then there was COVID-19
The church set a goal date of Easter to have repairs completed and be back in the worship center, and then the COVID-19 outbreak struck.
Much of the audio/visual equipment that was needed to finish the worship center was backordered because of COVID-19 shutdowns.
The church shut down all in-person services in mid-March.
The church had already been broadcasting services via Facebook for about two and half years. Unlike some churches who struggled with technology during the stay-a-home order, Celebration made a smooth transition to online-only services.
Itching to get back to church
After being apart for months under the stay-at-home order, members of the congregation are "itching to get back to church," Rice said.
"We have had so many people who have said on social media how excited they are to be back in church," Rice said, "having the community, not the building, but having the body of Christ together."
Rice said the church has never been so united as it has been since the disaster happened.
"The beauty of the church is that we gather together, that we remember together, that we worship together, and we can be a support," Rice said. "We call it around here doing life together. It is hard to do life together when you can't see each other physically."
As the deadline to be back in the building for services draws closer, volunteers and staff have been at the church nightly, some nights until almost midnight, setting up the audio/visual systems.
Because of the need to continue to social distance, the church has spread out chairs in the renovated worship center and set up even more space to watch the service in its gym and children's ministry center if needed.
The church regularly has 800 to 1,000 attendees on the Hays campus on any given Sunday. Rice said he and other church leaders wanted to make sure the church has room for anyone who wants to attend — current members or visitors.
Rice said in this time of the COVID crisis, people are searching for meaning.
"The hardest part for me is that we know there are people out there who are searching for meaning and really reflecting on their lives," Rice said, and we want to make sure we have an opportunity for them to come in and feel welcome ..."
Rice said he knows he is going to have to change how he does things, because he can't welcome people by shaking hands or hugging people or patting them on the back like he normally would.
"We want to make sure we have room for people who are searching — searching for truth," he said.
A time of unity
Rice will begin a new sermon series this week "John the Baptist — Wild Thing."
Celebration will have all of its services this weekend, including at 5 p.m. Saturday, and 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday. The church also will continue to broadcast services on Facebook live.
The children's ministry is still temporarily suspended, because as Rice said "it's impossible to get 5-year-olds to social distance."
However, the church will provide clipboards with age-appropriate activities for the children to do while they are sitting with their parents in church. The clipboards will be sanitized after each use.
Masks are optional. However, church staff will be wearing masks at least initially to put parishioners who chose to wear masks more at ease, Rice said.
"This church has unified through this whole COVID crisis," Rice said. "Sometimes the hardest things churches go through are the absolute best things churches go through.
"I remember standing in the lobby with my associate pastor the night of the storm, and I looked at him and said, 'We are going to look back at this and see how much unity God brought into this church, and He did. That is the thing that I am most proud of.
The storm ended up not being a horrible and miserable time, Rice said.
"It has put the focus back on the people and on God's truth," he said, "and I am just thrilled to be a part of it."