Enon Baptist sees miracle after church was destroyed
The inside of Enon Baptist Church was rampaged by flood waters caused by Hurricane Helene.
JONESBOROUGH — Like the children being led to the Promised Land, so did Enon Baptist Church see themselves after the flood waters of Hurricane Helene subsided.
Enon Baptist Church weathered the storm, even though their building did not.
Less than a week after the hurricane destroyed their sanctuary, members gathered for Wednesday night activities as usual. They met at a nearby Methodist church whose pastor had graciously opened his doors to the displaced congregation.
The hurricane had deluged Enon’s sanctuary with 9 feet of water, creating what pastor Keith Malone called “a total loss.” Inside, pews were stacked on top of each other, flipped on their ends or completely upside down, resembling “clothes that have been in a washing machine.”
Yet Malone found hope amid the devastation. When he entered the sanctuary that Saturday afternoon, he discovered their communion table had shifted across the room but remained upright with the Bible still on top.
“I told one of our youths, ‘Hey, we need to get the Bible and get it out of here,’” Malone said. “I figured it was destroyed, but I still wanted to keep it. But when the other guys got over there to it, they yelled over to me, ‘Hey, this Bible is not even wet!’”
The Bible had blown open to Isaiah 49, which Malone said speaks of how “the land needs to be cleansed because it’s not going to be big enough for what God has in store for his people.”
“I felt the passage was speaking directly to me and the church members,” he said.
The congregation, which averages 50-60 people on Sunday mornings, has grown significantly since Malone arrived three years ago when only about 10 people attended each week. Although several families lost their homes in the hurricane, no lives were lost.
Without insurance coverage, the church’s future seemed uncertain immediately after the storm. But donations began pouring in almost immediately, totaling more than $850,000 within the first two months. The church also raised $354,000 from a benefit concert and received a $500,000 grant from Samaritan’s Purse.
FEMA has approved funding for about 75% of restoration costs for the old building, bringing the total available funds to approximately $3.8 million, according to Malone.
The congregation received 5 acres of land up the street from their original location and purchased a small church building nearby. They moved into their temporary home July 27 and now hold Sunday morning services at 10 a.m.
Malone said the experience has reinforced his faith in divine providence, drawing parallels to biblical history.
“I go back to the Old Testament, the children of Israel,” he said. “God wanted to take them to the Promised Land, wanted to give them the best he had. And when he did, he said, ‘Follow me. Be obedient and faithful. He’s going to take care of all of faithful and obedient.’”
The church hopes to complete construction on a new building within 18 months.
“What it means to me is God is still in control,” Malone said. “We are to be faithful and obedient to him. If we’re found doing that, there is nothing that we can’t watch God do.”
Despite the challenges, Malone remains optimistic about the congregation’s future.
“There have been uphill battles, there’s been downhill battles, but I truly believe there’s not a battle that comes before us on a daily basis that we cannot walk out of on the other side of the valley and say we are victorious,” he said. “That is what’s kept us going, knowing that God said, ‘Just stand on me and my word and you’ll never have to worry about anything else.’”
Editor’s note: Some of the information for this article was taken from the B&R’s article Enon Baptist Church Moves Forward Despite ‘Total Loss’ from October 2024.
