Lake City church reflects on destructive tornado, one year later

LAKE CITY, Ark. (KAIT) - In the past few days, Refuge Church in Lake City looked back on the destruction of its campus and counted its blessings as they now look to their future.

When Hurricane Laura spawned an EF-2 tornado in Lake City last year, Refuge Church took the brunt of the hit.

“We had only been in the sanctuary for two Sundays when the tornado and then it completely changed things again,” said Steve Hinkle, pastor of Refuge Church.

It’s been a year since then, and after acquiring a new building alongside a fresh start, the church is focusing more on its blessings, rather than its tribulations.

“And God, within the past few months, has just blessed us by seeing, you know both numbers slowly increasing and getting a little bit better,” Hinkle said. “And we’re excited to see what’s in the future and what God is going to do for us too.”

Hurricane Ida is now in the headlines with the potential to be a historic storm. But, whatever lies ahead for Refuge Church, they’ll be ready with a firm foundation.

“God wants to take our messy and make it beautiful. And I believe that,” Hinkle said. “I honestly believe you know that if you can just hold on to God and his truths for those hard times, eventually you’ll look back and you’ll see that God helped you get through it and how he’s making things better.”

Pastor Hinkle said the new building should be up sometime next year and will implement new ideas to help better serve the area.

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