Community comes together to rebuild church after fire caused by lightning strike in Wilson County

WILSON, N.C. (WNCN) — Community members are working to rebuild after a church caught fire in Wilson County Thursday.

Friday Morning, members of Spring Hill Presbyterian Church spent time cleaning up debris left behind.

“Breaks my heart, breaks my heart because it’s home. It’s something, you know, you can always come to church, but you can’t go anywhere else,” said Linda Barnes. She’s been coming to the church since the 1960’s.

She told CBS 17 she found out about the fire when she got a call from her husband.

“Around 5 or 5:30 we got a call that our steeple was smoking and so my husband came, and he said he could see fire starting but he couldn’t do anything because the water was not hooked up,” said Barnes.

Church members say the fire started when lightning struck this steeple.

Barnes says they were able to salvage a few items, including a couple murals that were painted by a church member who passed away recently.

“She had painted two oil paintings of Jesus in the garden and she had done a mosaic out of rocks and stone and wood, and we got that and a few other pieces,” said Barnes.

Despite this tragedy, church members say they plan to rebuild.

The church will still be held on Sunday in the back part of the church which was not damaged.

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