Smoke was pouring from the greater Emmanuel
baptist church on 11th street when firefighters arrived
screaming fire trucks alerted nearby
congregation members their church home was
going up in smoke
I almost panicked. I just panicked.
Lucia Bradford has been a member of the church
for 30 years.
Verdell Wright has been a member for 40 years.
We are just all so sad and so unhappy.
We just don't know what we're going to do now.
Firefighters put out the blaze in about 40 minutes,
but not before it caused 1000s of dollars in damage.
Firefighters had to topple the steeple,
fearing it would fall because of structural
damage to the sanctuary.
When the flames were out, the congregation
found that it was not as bad as they had expected,
but not as good as they had hoped.
There is too much damage to hold services here Sunday,
but church members are thanking firefighters
for preventing the church from burning down.
I think they did a wonderful job on that.
They saved a whole lot, which, you know, I had
no idea they could have saved that much.
It was nothing but a miracle that they were
able to save the sanctuary.
So I still believe in miracles.
This is proof. Ramona Logan, Texas News 5.