Athens Church Burned

By Kenneth Dean in The Tyler Morning Telegraph
The pungent smell of smoke filled the darkened sanctuary as Pastor Leon Wallace spoke about the burglary and apparent arson at his church on New Year’s Day. Wallace said he had been at his office at the Faith Church on Mission Avenue in Athens earlier Friday morning. About two hours after leaving, he was called and told his church was on fire and that there appeared to have been a burglary.

Standing in the doorway to the sanctuary, Wallace pointed to a scorched baptistery with a large cross still hanging above it and a smoke-covered worship area.

“We really regret that someone would stoop to this point and burn a church. I mean, who would do something like this?” he said.

Wallace said another church member arrived at the church about 11 a.m. and saw white smoke. He called the Athens Fire Department, but before they arrived a window blew out and the fire began gaining ground. Brownsboro and other volunteer fire departments arrived to assist with the blaze, and with a combined effort, they were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to adjacent buildings.

“I don’t know what the dollar amount will be on the damage, but that whole back area of the sanctuary is pretty much destroyed, and then you can see all the soot covering the walls and damage to the breezeway,” Wallace said.

Athens Fire Department Battalion Chief and Fire Marshal Ronnie Denton said he believes the fire was intentionally set.

“I have ruled out faulty wiring and in the area where the fire originated, there was absolutely no source of ignition,” he said.

Denton said it took firefighters a little more than an hour to control the blaze, and the investigation revealed the pastor’s study had been broken into and his desk rifled, and the area where the fire also was broken into.

Denton said no one has been ruled out on causing the fire, but he said that during the break-in, the suspect allegedly took several dollars in coins.

Wallace said he and other church members were upset about the fire but that faith would get them congregation through the ordeal.

“We implemented our third building on the property, which was not affected by the fire, and that is where we will hold services,” he said. “Once we get everything set up, we will bring in a portable baptistery for baptisms for the time being.”

Wallace said the fire occurred the Friday before his 80-member congregation was to hold their first service in a month, because the congregation had spent December’s Sundays working in the community.

“We were just out in the community helping others for the entire month. We would meet here and go out and just minister to our community. We were going to have our first service in a month in the sanctuary Sunday, but then we had the fire,” he said.

Denton is asking anyone with information about the fire to call his office at 903-677-6638.