SLIDELL, La. — Stairs that once led to an attic, now lead to the sky, and trees that once shaded church picnics are coated in insulation after a tornado devastated Slidell Church of Christ on Wednesday.
Even as the walls crumble down around him, Minister Courtney Cheri says his church family stands strong.
“People are the church,” Slidell Church of Christ Minister Courtney Cheri said. “That’s what that church means. The building is just where we facilitate that.”
Dwight Jones is also part of that family. He has attended the church for forty years and raised his children alongside Cheri’s.
“I’ve touched a lot of young people’s lives, and they’ve touched my life,” Slidell Church of Christ Minister Dwight Jones said. “It has a lot of sentimental value to it.”
He says the community that is serving him now is the same community he served eighteen years ago.
“This building has been very instrumental to giving back to the community, so it’s unfortunate that this happened,” Jones said.
For this congregation, loving and serving goes back long before Wednesday’s tornado. After Hurricane Katrina, rooms in the church housed storm victims. Now, those victims have a chance to give back.
“I was in Chalmette congregation in St. Bernard,” Church of Christ Volunteer Claudia Smith said. “Water was over the roof, and we were the recipients that time.”
On Fridays, volunteers recall the kindness and love they felt from the Slidell Church of Christ after Hurricane Katrina, when they opened their pews and their hearts to people in need.
“Now here it is, we’re able to help our brothers and sisters in their time of need. We get to give back,” Smith said.
So, where does the church go from here? Cheri doesn’t know God’s plans, but he knows one thing to be true.
“He’s stronger than the storm, and we believe in him,” Cheri said.
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