Church building struck by lightning stands strong, fueling hope and faith

By Josie Heart

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    MODESTO, California (KCRA) — Christian Love Baptist Church members are grateful the building is still standing after it was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm over the weekend.

Roderick Cochran, a senior pastor at the Modesto church, said he was expecting the worst-case scenario when he arrived.

“My anticipation upon arrival was to see a pile of rubble because everything we thought about lightning strikes was total destruction,” Cochran said.

Cochran said he and other members of the church found out through a neighbor who had captured the footage on camera and immediately alerted them.

To his relief, Cochran found that the building was intact other than some damages to the steeple on the third floor, which now has a large opening.

“As I looked at the hole, I just think that looked like a metal cone on top of the steeple,” Cochran said. “I really don’t think we’re going to redo that. I think we need to rethink materials that may be less conducive to electrical currents.”

The church also discovered fallen debris inside and outside, power outages in some parts of the building, and cracks in the plaster of the ceiling.

Safety inspections are now underway to determine the scope of the structural damage, the church said. Cochran said the church has insurance to help pay the costs, and their early estimates are that they could be seeing thousands of dollars in damage.

One of the biggest concerns he expressed is the safety of the church’s worship students, as classrooms are on the second floor.

“Our Kingdom Kids ministry is located on our second level,” Cochran said. “We don’t want them to occupy the second floor until we get a general estimation. We don’t want any structural damage. We don’t want any electrical hazards. We want to make sure it’s safe for our kids.”

Cochran said the building faced another close call over a year prior after a fire broke out.

“It took us the entire year and a half just to get back in,” Cochran said. “We’ve probably been like a month, maybe a month and a half now fully back to functionality, and then this happened.”

Cochran said the building is decades old, possibly dating back to the 1950s, but today, he says the church is just grateful that the building and their faith are still standing strong.

“Relief went to a thought of gratitude,” Cochran said. “Thank you, God, for your grace and mercy that we just have a hole in the steeple and the power is out because we could’ve lost the building.”

Cochran expressed gratitude for the community support they’ve received and for the neighbor who alerted them of the lightning strike. He said it was the same neighbor who had brought a previous fire to their attention.

“When we got here, our neighbor was collecting our shingles from their front yard,” Cochran said.

While the lightning may have been a shock to the building, Cochran said it was also a reminder to keep doing the work they do for the community.

“Both things could’ve been ultimately devastating,” he said. “But God in his grace allowed it to be almost like a wake-up call.”

The church said nobody was hurt and no one was inside the building when the lightning struck. The church will be providing updates to the community if any major safety hazards are discovered.

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