A South Side church collapsed after catching fire on Thanksgiving Day. Flames rekindled at Renewal Life Church in Englewood Friday morning, sending crews back to put out the flames.

A place that Pastor Jerico Brown once called home for his congregation is now being torn down after a massive fire ripped through Renewal Life Church starting around 2 p.m. on Thursday.

"Is it a good time to cry?" That was Pastor Jerico Brown's reaction after seeing his church go up in flames.

"Honestly, it hurts. You know, it hurts like hell to watch everything that you built. This is like a collaboration of 14 years of ministry, every location, everything we accumulated," Brown said.

Chicago Fire Department crews battled a roaring 2-11 alarm fire at the church Thursday afternoon in the 5800 block of South Emerald Avenue.

Firefighters spent hours putting out the fire, which at its peak sent smoke into the air that could be seen from more than a mile away.

Winds pushed the smoke into the surrounding area.

More than 200 ComEd customers were temporarily without power because of the fire, according to the utility.

Firefighters returned to the site of the church Friday morning when the fire rekindled, again sending smoke billowing from the collapse site.

"It doesn't look like anything is salvageable. I told my church this morning, I was like, 'Hey, everything we have, everything that belongs to us is right here at 5848.' So we will be starting completely over from scratch," Brown said.

The pastor said no one was inside the building at the time, because they were at another church helping serve Thanksgiving meals.

"We have, I guess, a relationship with a church called Fairfield Missionary Baptist Church. And so we end up catering their Thanksgiving meals. So instead of doing our own, we just work with them," Brown said.

Deaconess Donna Brown said she was in disbelief after the fire. She said renovations at the church were in the process of being completed, and the church was set to host an event on Thursday to feed people who were experiencing homelessness, but it was moved and held at another church, leaving Renewal Life empty.

"What happened is like very heartbreaking, very like sad to see, but I'm just grateful no one was hurt," Brown said.

She said the church's leadership will gather this weekend to begin the process of recovering.

"The leaders are going to sit and have a conversation to see where are we going to go from here. Hopefully, we can rebuild, and we can get people to help with the rebuilding," Brown said.

For now, Brown said the church is grappling with the tragedy through their faith.

"What we're going to do at Renewal Life is trust in God, trust his process, trust everything that he's been doing for us, and what he's gonna do for us in the future," she said.

U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents responded to the scene after firefighters put out the hot spots, but the agency hasn't confirmed why those agents were there.

Brown said his congregation is relying heavily on their faith to get them through this tough time.

"Take our calamity as a moment for you to say, 'Hey, they trust this God, I want to get to know that God,'" he said.

While fire investigators determine the cause of the fire, Brown said the congregation is looking for a new church to hold their Sunday services.