PENSACOLA,
FL — John Kilpatrick is a tough old Georgia boy. Slandered by the newspapers,
fell off a house and broke all his bones, and now his church burns - yet he
endures. The vision God gave him to build the Family Life Center a few years ago
was to have room for overflow during the heat of the full revival. We know now
that the vision God gave was two-fold, and will serve to sustain and protect His
move in Pensacola. No, God’s not through with Brownsville, and as Pastor
Kilpatrick stood side by side with his friend Tommy Tenney, he seemed almost
festive in anticipation of giving the devil another headache.As Brenda Kilpatrick saw the church on Saturday and looked at the long strip of plastic that stretched to the top of the roof, she said, "Look! It looks like the church has had a Band-Aid put on it." She was right - it is just a surface wound. The Fire Marshall stated that the bolt of lighting that hit the main sanctuary came through a plumbing vent and ignited the inner roof insulation and all the electrical wiring that is centered in the back of the church. The sanctuary now has a musty smell of smoke and tremendous water damage.
The lightning that struck on July 4th hit with deadly force and tried to destroy the Brownsville Sanctuary, but a servant saw the fire before it could bring down God’s house. Elmer Melton (chief usher and board member) was called to the church on a false alarm. Downtown, the alarm registered movement in the Family Life Center that seemed like shattered glass, but it was just vibrations from the fireworks in the area. As Elmer looked across to the main sanctuary, he saw the smoke and called the fire department. The firemen who answered the call had to summon seven more trucks to the sight as they battled late into the morning to contain the blaze. "What looked like a curse became a blessing," said Pastor Kilpatrick, "because in the next few months, we will see the entire sanctuary remodeled and have a new roof. The carpet will be replaced and the worn areas of the church will be replaced with new paint. We were eventually going to have to replace the roof, but the lightning saved us a lot of money. Some will say it was an act of God, but we really know who was behind this, it was the devil. ‘Is that your best shot?’ As the church was burning, my mood was somber. My mind was going over all the things that had happened in that place in the last seven years. We will be better for it, though, after we move back in a couple of months. "
The moment was anything but somber today. The choir stood at the back and the Holy Spirit flowed through the worship. Weeping and a loving gentle spirit covered the room.
"Just a few hours into the fire," continued Kilpatrick, "we began to get phone calls from everywhere. We got them from Canada and all across the United States." Pastor Kilpatrick also said that a couple from the Jewish Congregation brought a $100 offering on Saturday. Susan Sax, RN, and her husband, a doctor, brought the contribution to help out. (Susan worked with Vivian Miller, the Remnant Editor’s wife, at Springhill Memorial Hospital before moving to Pensacola.) Susan’s little girl gave Children’s Pastor Van Lane the offering to give to Pastor Kilpatrick. Pastor Kilpatrick said he believed that the fire was an attack by the devil himself because of Brownsville honoring the Nation of Israel.
The Family Life Center will hold more people than the main sanctuary. Kilpatrick said that the engineer from St. Louis, who constructed the building, might come out of retirement to rebuild the sanctuary. Tommy Tenney asked Pastor Kilpatrick if he could be with the people of Brownsville to encourage them, and that’s exactly what he did.
Tenney spoke about the three Hebrews who were cast into the fire. He said God chose them because they were ready. They didn’t start praying when they went in the fire - they had already prayed and that’s why the fourth man was found in the fire, Jesus.
Tenney has always had great timing at Brownsville. The first time he preached on the Temple David built, it was on the eve of the Passover. Today he spoke about Job and how he had made his mind up to serve God even though God allowed his children to die at the hands of the devil. Tenney then made a statement that would confuse those who walk in religion. He said, "Sometimes you can be in the hands of the devil but still be in the will of God. If God didn’t spare His son and He died for you, who do you think you are."
"The people of Brownsville are durable people. You have been put through the fire so much. God can trust you. God has to have faith in you. He says I can trust you. I can put you anywhere and you will endure. There might be some losses, but you will always come out a winner. The church didn’t burn. You can’t burn something that is already burned. You can’t consume the church. My friend, that building across the street is not the church, you are the church."
Tenney placed a charred piece of wood with a nail in it on the top of the pulpit as he preached. As he went back to the reference of Job he said, "There will be people who will say this was done because God is angry at you. False friends are always around when you have trials, but Job learned the secret to victory. He blessed those who cursed him, drew a line in the sand, and said, "Tho He slay me, I will still serve Him." We must be like Job and learn how to have victory. When we have victory, we will understand and be a witness to the purpose of God."
The people who were in the Family Life Center today knew they were in the midst of a divine plan by God. Hope and expectation are increasing among the people of revival. We see through a glass darkly and God can only show us part of the path. The fire was just a setback for the greater glory that is on the way.