As Nappanee continues to recover volunteers are coming out of the wood work.

Sunday, the response was so great that the mayor of Nappanee actually had to turn volunteers away.

But the help has definitely been appreciated at New Beginnings Assembly of God. Nearly the entire back half of the church was destroyed in the storm, and volunteers have been working the last 4 days to help with clean-up.

But there’s still a long way to go.

It’s safe to say the church was near the path of Thursday’s tornado.

Pastor Mick Tomlinson says it’s hard to see the damage that was done to the church, which houses between 40-50 members each Sunday. They held their services this weekend at a facility lent to them by another church on the North end of Nappanee.

Tomlinson says the church’s insurance company says the building is not salvageable, and will have to be torn down.

Workers spent the day removing everything that could be saved from the building – anything from cabinets, to ovens, to literally the kitchen sink. Workers also cleared off the debris from the foundation of the damaged portion of the church.

The church plans to re-build sometime in the near future, using the same foundation. However, the church was two stories, and Tomlinson says they’d likely consider a one-story design this time. The building was only 8 years old.

Tomlinson says the volunteers that have helped are not just from his congregation: members of other neighboring churches have also come to help out. He says that sense of community is the main positive that has come out of the incident.

Also, a symbolic marker was left in front of the church. Tomlinson says there were 3 crosses standing in front of the church, and now there are only two. The middle cross, representing the cross of Jesus, was blown away in the storm. Tomlinson says the two crosses that remained represent humanity, and show that God is “going to take care of humanity.”

Tomlinson says he considers it a “miracle” no one was killed or seriously injured in the storms. He says the rebuilding process is still fairly far away, but is looking forward to the church having its own facilities again.