Carson City congregation still celebrates

CARSON CITY -- One week after their meeting hall was destroyed by an intentionally caused fire, more than 200 members of the Connected Church of the Nazarene joined to worship and were urged to pray for whomever started the blaze.

The members huddled next to space heaters on borrowed chairs under a white plastic tent to celebrate Sunday service.

And as he paced to stay warm, the Rev. J.J. Tuttle said he did not want to hear another person say the capital city church had burned.

"The church is right here," he said.

Tuttle also encouraged members to set aside their anger over the loss of their building.

Several hours after the Dec. 2 services ended, a fast-moving blaze broke out in the main assembly hall at the center of the church's warehouse building in an industrial complex. The fire spread quickly, melting fixtures and filling much of the building with smoke. No one was injured.

"We know some of you aren't taking this well," Tuttle told the congregation Sunday. "It's OK to be sad. It's OK to be angry. It's OK to be mad. It's OK to feel all those things. But there are people praying for you."

As he walked to a towering cross that survived the blaze, he told the gathering, "Strange to me that a wooden cross doesn't burn in a fire."