After the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church fire, former parishioners remember their cherished parish
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The blown out windows and piles of ashes are devastating sights for people who remember Antioch Baptist Church best.
The images caught the eye of a family living 1,500 miles away who left Chicago more than a decade ago. CBS 2's Steven Graves reports from Englewood where that church burned Friday.
The church place means everything to hundreds of families, as the ashes settle, prayers are going up. Memories shared by members from across the country.
It was back in the 1980's. People were dressed in their Sunday best, packing pews and choir members in their emerald-colored robes. There were also fun church picnics to attend. But strong men of Englewood's Antioch Missionary Baptist Church shaped and helped to mold the man Leroy Johnson is today.
"They were an example," Johnson said. "I had no strong male influence in my life. Just watching those guys and their integrity that they had."
It led him to become a deacon at the church during that time, taking many photos of that time. Now in Phoenix, he watched the church burn after a worker's blow torch is believed to have accidentally lit the roof on fire last week.
"Ugh, it was heartbreaking, you know," said longtime church member Heather Burke. "All I keep thinking about is that Reverend Daniel built a strong foundation."
Johnson's daughter, Heather Burke, spoke during junior church. It was a chance provided by the late pastor Wilbur Daniel. She's now teaching eighth grade in Texas.
"Really, I have to credit my time at Antioch with my boldness and my bravery as an adult," Burke said. "Got a lot of practice being on stage there."
She also got married here. Her dad remembering Reverend Daniel as a force. Someone who regular people and politicians alike loved, going out of his way in the hard times, establishing housing programs and offering to step-in and officiate funerals.
Like when Johnson's mom died.
"That was just the kind of person he was. And the walls are still standing."
A foundation built – but *never broken. The family said the "church" is really its people. And many are hopefully the building will rise again.
"Englewood needs Antioch as much as Antioch needs Englewood."
CBS 2 has checked in with the city's department of buildings for the past two days and what a rebuild would look like if the church had to be completely demolished. So far, no word on that.
