Thankful Baptist welcomes 2019 in new venue

NEWTON — The message from the Thankful Baptist Church congregation Sunday was apparent: You can’t keep good people down.

The church hosted its first service since an early-morning Dec. 23 fire that destroyed the Thankful church building. Though a great loss, especially so close to Christmas, the congregation maintained its giving spirit, hosting Thankful’s annual toy drive alongside the application of recovery efforts the following day.

Since then, the church has experienced substantial progress: securing a temporary location for future assemblies and services at the East Baker Historical Society building, and collecting more than $1,000 of their $50,000 goal for reconstruction on #GoFundMe.

Thankful Baptist church members were relieved to be back in operation in time to hold the consecration service for the first Sunday of 2019. Minister Horace Benton of Damascus and Pastor Hosae Miller of New True Fellowship in Albany helped lead a sermon and prayer while showing their support for their brothers and sisters in worship alongside the many visitors to service. After such a successful return, the church congregation expressed a hopeful outlook for the near future during their occupation.

“We had a grand time in our temporary edifice, and thank God for the East Baker Historical Society for giving us a place to worship,” Thankful pastor the Rev. Wadis Williams said.

Currently, an investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing as lab results continue to be processed. However, deputies generally do not suspect any foul play.