Easter Sunday mass to be held after blaze at NJ church
FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- It's been just over two weeks since a fire destroyed the Fountain of Life Center in Burlington, New Jersey.
The 11-alarm blaze gutted the sanctuary and forced its adjacent school to close its doors for the rest of the year.
Only on CBS News Philadelphia, the church's pastor showed his congregation's new temporary worship center that will welcome parishioners on Easter Sunday.
"We have stadium seating that seats 650 people," Pastor Russell Hodgins said.
While a gymnasium may not seem like a slam-dunk option for a church, Pastor Hodgins says the hardwoods inside the Fountain of Life's Campus Community Center are a Godsend.
"It's three basketball courts and it's been retrofitted for a sanctuary," Hodgins said. "The number one concern was finding a place to worship temporarily."
Just across the pavement, a fire destroyed the Fountain of Life Church back on March 20. The cause is still not known.
While the congregation has been able to meet for services at a local high school, getting back here, especially to Mark Christians' holiest day of the year means everything.
"No better Sunday to come home than Easter Sunday," Hodgins said.
This is all that's left of the original church. Inside the now hollowed-out frame of steel and brick, everything, well almost everything was lost.
"When I saw the drone photo of the cross lying right in the center of the sanctuary it put chills up and down my arms," Hodgins said.
A drone photo shows the church's cross that once stood on top of its sanctuary. It's the only item salvageable amid a pile of ashes and debris.
"Even one of the local fire marshalls said for it to fall like that is nothing short of miraculous," Hodgins said.
And so if you're looking for a sign this spiritual season, Pastor Hodgins says it's right here.
"The church really is the body of believers that's never been more true than right now," Hodgins said.
For beyond the rubble, there is a promise to rebuild, a vision to transform something ordinary into something divine and a belief that together, anything is possible.
"If there was ever a time for the church to stand strong and beacon of hope it's right here and right now," Hodgins said.
