Malakoff church donates pews for damaged church at providential time

GALVESTON?Hurricane Ike took its toll on Cove Baptist Church in Orange last September, with the church sitting in the epicenter of the storm.

So when the First Baptist Church in the East Texas town of Malakoff saw fit to donate its church pews to Cove Baptist, its gift was well received and much needed.

In what FBC Malakoff Pastor Nathan Lorick said was providential timing, the church was in the midst of a building project late last year and trying to add some needed space in their church auditorium. In the construction phase of the project they were in the process of replacing their church pews with individual sanctuary chairs, and hoped to find a congregation in need of their wooden pews when they came across Cove Baptist Church.

Lorick said his church met in a tent outside its normal facilities while the auditorium was being completed when his church decided to give its pews to Cove Baptist.

“God has blessed First Baptist Church Malakoff by allowing us to be a blessing to another church. It is our desire to see God move in awesome ways through FBC and Cove Baptist Church as we strive to change the world together,” Lorick said. “We consider it a great joy to be able to help another church during a time of need.”

The congregation of Cove Baptist also noted God’s providential blessing amid the crisis as they saw the Lord meet innumerable needs in the weeks following Ike.

John Marshall, a pastor at Cove Baptist Church, said that while the church facilities were still structurally sound in the aftermath of Ike, the pews and interior items were completely destroyed as they were flooded with over five feet of water. Also lost in the hurricane’s wake was the church organ and grand piano.

Marshall remarked that the very week that his church prayed for new pews to replace the ones that were destroyed by the floodwater, FBC Malakoff called with the offer to ship their pews to Orange. Marshall said God’s provision in this period of rebuilding has been nothing less than remarkable and has resulted in a renewed sense of God’s presence and purpose in the day-to-day affairs of his congregation.

Moreover, he said Ike’s destruction has sparked something akin to a revival in his congregation, even resulting in the salvation of a young person in the youth ministry. Marshall said the high school ministry is meeting in the kitchen facilities of Cove Baptist Church due to the enormous flooding the meeting hall endured, but the ministry has gone on.