5 days ago
Mountain City church raises $600,000 towards rebuild process
MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)—Located just off Highway 421 in Mountain City, Antioch Baptist Church had stood strong since its construction in 1942 until it was washed away in September during Hurricane Helene.
'The rain stopped and me and my wife had come to town and seen some of the damage,' said Pastor Mike Fenner. 'But [we] hadn't come up to the church. So I got a text from a lady, a friend of ours, who said, 'Sorry about the church.' And we didn't know what she was talking about. She said, 'It's gone.''
Everything, including the building and the pavement, was washed downstream. The church has a smaller congregation, which led Fenner to wonder how they would raise the funds to rebuild. That's when a nearby ministry stepped in.
Cattle stolen from Glade Spring farm, reward offered
'Operation Renewed Hope, a ministry out of North Carolina, reached out to me and said they would like to help,' Fenner said. 'They actually put our story and pictures of our church on the internet, and all around the world, people saw what had happened. And people began to, obviously, pray for us and send in money.'
Thanks to a series of donations, the church has raised $600,000. Fenner said he was amazed at the generosity.
'The day after the flood, I'm sitting at home discouraged,' he said. 'Thinking about how me and 35 people could do this. And God showed me that he's still in control and he owns it all.'
Fenner adds that he's grateful that only the building was damaged.
'We can rebuild buildings,' he said. 'No one below us here was hurt, and we're just thankful for that. That's the most important thing.'
Fenner said he still can't believe the church is closer to being rebuilt.
'We didn't know that that was going to happen,' he said. 'But we have a great opportunity to be a light and show people that by the Grace of God, we can rebuild.'
Fenner said they hope to begin the rebuild process in the next few weeks.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
