PARON — Andrew Justice, the longtime senior pastor of Buffalo Jesus Name Church in Paron, has a routine when strong storms approach his Saline County community.
Justice and his wife, Shirley, make sure to leave the double-wide trailer that sits directly behind the church on Buffalo Road and seek shelter in the sturdier, cinder-block sanctuary.
But on Thursday night, word of a nearby tornado came too late and the couple had to hunker down where they were — in the trailer they knew wasn't the safest place to ride out the storm.
"We didn't have much warning — by the time they broadcast it was coming and it was on the ground, it was only a mile-and-a-half up the road," Justice, 67, said Friday. "But I guess the good lord was watching over us because the double-wide sustained very little damage and the whole roof went off the other building."
On Friday, Justice, his son and others from the community were at the church, combing through the wreckage, marveling at how the tornado seemed to jump right over the trailer and working to begin the long process of rebuilding.
Justice, who's led the church for 36 years, said the few seconds the tornado blew threw seemed like several minutes. It roared with the sounds of broken glass and debris striking the roof. He prayed.
"Those few seconds?" he said. "Mainly I was praying. Anybody says they don't pray, you just get in a storm. You'll find out you will."
Once the tornado passed, Justice and his wife emerged to find a very different scene outside than the one they were used to. The roof was ripped from the church. Trees on all side were knocked down, one thrown into the side of the building. A camper that had been set up behind the church was thrown into a neighboring field, where it landed on its top. A carport that had been by the church ended up at least 150 yards away.
But, Justice said, the damage won't keep the church from moving on. It had to cancel a camp meeting planned this weekend, but Justice hopes activities will be back on track soon.
"It was disheartening," he said of the damage. "But those things happen. And we will rebuild."