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Fire destroys Austin church one day before Easter

Fire destroys Austin church one day before Easter
Fire destroys Austin church one day before Easter 02:06

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Just one day before Easter Chicago's Austin neighborhood lost a church. Fire gutted Chance Ministries on North Cicero early Saturday morning. 

The church also served as a daycare and offered after-school programs. 

The congregation watched part of the building being torn down Saturday. The fire is out, but the emotion is just beginning to erupt. 

"Don't really know what to think. Don't really know what to feel," said Pastor William L. Martin. "Seem like the more they work, the worse it gets. Like that machine is crushing it. Every crush they crush, I'm feeling that crush. As they crush, I'm crushing." 

Martin watched with his congregation on the day before Easter Sunday as 18 years of ministry crumbled by the minute. 

"Everything is destroyed right now," he said. "Everything's destroyed, and it look like they're destroying a lot more as they go along."

A demolition crew finished off what the early morning fire started. 

"This is our community. This is where we live. This is where we work at and this is where we help the community, so this is where we is. We have a school here, Chance after Chance College Preparatory," said Martin. "We do so much in the community. We have a safe haven program for after school children."

According to the Chicago Fire Department, no one was hurt and investigators are digging into the cause of the fire. 

"It'd have been different if somebody had gotten killed," Martin said. "The only thing was hurt was feelings and emotions." 

It's a crushing feeling waiting for a path forward to clear. 

"We're looking to see which route God's going to take us from here," he said.

The pastor said despite the fire, there will be an Easter service at the annex building and community center just down the street. 

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