May 24, 2012
MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)--It's a new year and a new beginning for one Blount County Church.
The Kagleys Chapel Baptist Church in Maryville is celebrating the opening of a brand new building.
14 months after an electrical fire leveled their church, the congregation didn't lose faith.
"Our faith has really increased. I've said before, we've been tested and we've come through pretty well," said Pastor Darrell Millsapps
Lynn Tipton, whose been a member since 1953, added, "It strengthened us. We are stronger as a congregation than we were before this happened."
And during the 14 months at an abandoned church down the road, Tipton said, "There was always the hope that we'd be back here again. And we've never missed a Sunday. Never missed a service. We met in the parking lot the first Wednesday after the fire."
That service held in almost the same spot where the new church stands, where Kagleys Chapel has been for more than a century.
Millsapps said, "You go out there in the graveyard, you'll see a lot of history."
A history so important to its members, one of them ran into the burning building to save it. Their scrap book catalogs everything that's happened at the church since 1882.
Millsapps continued, "It means a great deal to the congregation. They were excited about it being saved and they're excited about it today. This is history right here today."
They're making history and looking forward to the next hundred years.
