JOPLIN, Mo. — Jim Hemphill remembers the way the First Community Church looked right after the tornado in May 2011.
“There was no debris in the building,” he said. “The tornado sucked it all out. It’s hard to imagine that much power.”
On Monday, Hemphill, a member of the church’s board of directors, watched as workers put the final touches on a new sidewalk near the entrance. Inside, workers were installing the last pieces of stained glass in the sanctuary. Soon, new pews will be arriving.
“It’s essentially done now,” he said. “And, we’re really excited about getting it done.”
Now, 17 months later, a handful of the 25 or so churches that were either destroyed or damaged by the tornado are preparing to reopen. The First Community Church should open later this month.
Also reopening is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which will have an open house for the public later this week.
Other churches are deep into construction. Among those are Harmony Heights Baptist Church; St. James United Methodist Church.; and Generations Free Will Baptist Church.
The interior of Faith Baptist Church is nearing completion. It hopes to reopen in January. The foundation for the Christian Science Church is being poured.
Unlike the other projects that involve reconstruction from the ground up, the work at the First Community Church has involved a painstaking restoration of an early 1960s structure that, for the most part, withstood the storm.
“It’s been a long 17 months,” said Dave Mason, a church member who volunteered to coordinate the reconstruction of the church. “I can’t wait to get my life back.”