Tornado damages historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church in La Grange

The Mt. Zion Baptist Church in La Grange has more than a century of history. “It’s been here a while. And we just hate to see it go. That’s history, that’s part of our history that’s been destroyed here but that’s ok. Like I tell anybody, God is good,” said Brookshire Outland.

Outland grew up here. She was married here. It’s a part of her life. “When I was a child here, I was secretary of the Sunday school and a member of the choir,” Outland said.

Friday morning, a possible tornado touched down. The destructive weather may have done damage to the church. But the wind didn’t carry everything away.

A tapestry of the Last Supper still hangs on the wall.

“See the cross?  See the cross over there? It’s still standing too,” Outland said.

Outland was at home when the storm came through.

“I was cooking breakfast, I didn’t think about a tornado. I was talking to my mom and my sister on the phone and my little niece said ‘y’all have a tornado coming’ and I said ‘well it’s not going to come here’ y'all always say it’s coming,’” Outland said.

Outland actually lives just down the road from the church. She’s never been in a tornado before. She was eating breakfast when she heard a rumbling coming from outside of her house. When she looked out of her kitchen window she saw her garage completely topppled over on top of her car.  

It did serious damage to her car. The back window is busted out.

Outland is thankful no one was hurt at her home or at the church. "That’s the blessing right there. No one got hurt. People call me to say ‘Are you all right? What happened? I say ‘I am fine, God takes care of me. It’s just the house. The house I can replace,” she said.

If you haven’t noticed...Brookshire Outland is just not worried.

“I know God. I know God can do anything but fail. So I don’t worry about material things. I don’t worry about that because I know that if God is real, we will rebuild this church,” she said.  

Outland says they will find a place to have church on Sunday.

She says they’re planning on praising God like they praise God any other day.