CHATHAM, Va. – Many followers of Christ believe they have a God-shaped hole in their heart.
But the Bible doesn’t say anything about a God-shaped hole in their building.
There’s still a mess left after a semi crashed right through the building at Open Bible Baptist Church in Chatham.
But even if they had to hold church in the parking lot, they were set on making it work.
Pastor Tim Kyser doesn’t have to know everything to know it will be alright.
His congregation at Open Bible Baptist is getting quite the test.
“Whether it be fire or whether it be water or whether it be, you know, I never thought about a tractor-trailer to be honest with you, but we’ve taken all the steps to prepare,” Kyser said.
On Tuesday night, a Sheetz tractor-trailer ripped a hole right through the front wall of the church along U.S. 29.
“God hasn’t changed, his plan for us hasn’t changed, so I felt it was important to meet with the people and say ‘Hey, it’s no biggie,'" Kyser said.
Wednesday is a regular service night, and although the sanctuary was untouched, it’s not safe to be there.
So they did things a little differently in a back room, giving thanks.
Sharon Kelley’s late husband found the church, and she said everything will work out.
“For all things work together for good to them who love God, and we love God and are called according to his promise, and so this is going to work for good,” she said.
The church is thankful nobody was inside when the incident happened and for the community support.
Sheetz has promised to make it right, and the church isn’t going anywhere.
Due to the location, traffic brings people in, but it also brings situations like what happened on Tuesday.
“So we need wisdom to figure out how we can better protect ourselves, what steps, and balance that with creating a way that we don’t harm others, either,” Kyser said.
The church is also thankful the driver is OK, and Kyser plans on visiting him in the hospital on Thursday morning. They said he is 110 percent forgiven.