{"id":40115,"date":"2019-12-03T23:09:36","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T23:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=40115"},"modified":"2019-12-03T23:09:36","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T23:09:36","slug":"god-answered-this-pastors-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=40115","title":{"rendered":"God answered this pastor’s prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BLOGGER’S NOTE: This post was published originally on KETR-FM’s website.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Do not ever tell the Rev. Chet Haney that God doesn\u2019t answer prayers.<\/p>\n

On June 19 of this year, Haney \u2013 senior pastor of Highland Terrace Baptist Church in Greenville \u2013 got word of a terrible storm brewing and moving rapidly toward the church he runs. Rev. Haney had to make a decision \u2026 in a major hurry!<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a Wednesday night and the church was preparing for its usual Wednesday night worship service. Haney had to decide whether to cancel the service. He made the call: There would be no Wednesday night worship at Highland Terrace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI then put out the word for two prayers,\u201d Rev. Haney said. \u201cOne was to pray that everyone stayed home. Do not go out into this weather,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The second prayer, he said, was to \u201chave God take authority over this storm.\u201d So, just how did The Almighty \u201ctake authority\u201d? Haney said the storm hit 15 minutes later and that on its way to pummeling the church, the destructive funnel cloud lifted off the ground twice and missed hitting the Hunt Regional Medical Center hospital as well as a crowded apartment building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it hit the church,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were very fortunate,\u201d he said, given that no one was injured inside the structure when the EF-1 storm plowed into the building. He said there were about 20 people inside when the storm went through.<\/p>\n

\u201cPieces were ripped off the building and they tore through the building like torpedoes,\u201d he said of the fragments that hit the education wing at the height of the storm. \u201cThere could have been children in there,\u201d had there been Wednesday night services. \u201cThe sanctuary had gaping holes in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By all means, Haney said, God answered their prayers. The city avoided injury or much worse, he said, thanks in part to the various social media platforms that put the word out as the storm approached the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told first that it was a case of straight-line wind,\u201d Haney said, \u201cbut then they changed it back to calling it a tornado.\u201d Haney said he was initially a bit reluctant to cancel the services, saying that \u201cI didn\u2019t want to cry \u2018wolf!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Repair work has begun on Highland Terrance Church, but it is a long way from being done, said Haney. The church has been conducting its Sunday service at Greenville High School, which has loaned its auditorium to the church. Highland Terrace\u2019s Wednesday night service has been taking place at the Fletcher Warren Civic Center.<\/p>\n

Soon, though, the church campus\u2019s atrium will be completed, and the church will resume worshiping there, beginning Jan. 12. \u201cThat will be a big step forward for us,\u201d Haney said.<\/p>\n

The final cost of full restoration of the church campus has yet to be determined, Haney said, explaining that the church is waiting on the insurance company to determine how much money the church will receive.<\/p>\n

Haney said he hopes to have the work completed no later than the next 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas Baptist Men dropped off a pallet full of tarps,\u201d Haney said of the help the church received in the immediate storm aftermath. \u201cWe got lots of bottled water, brooms, mops\u201d and assorted other cleanup equipment, Haney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town was hit hard by the storm,\u201d Haney said. \u201cDowntown was hit hard and some in our church family lost power for several days,\u201d he said, adding that he heard that \u201cLowe\u2019s and Home Depot ran out of tarps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haney does not appear openly dismayed by the destruction brought to the church building. Indeed, he counts \u2013 and cherishes<\/em> \u2013 the blessings he and his church family have received as they continue their recovery from the wrath that befell them.<\/p>\n

Haney said, \u201cThe church <\/em>survived, even though the building received all that damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hey, just try<\/em> to tell Rev. Chet Haney that God wasn\u2019t watching over the community.<\/p>\n\n

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BLOGGER’S NOTE: This post was published originally on KETR-FM’s website. Do not ever tell the Rev. Chet Haney that God doesn\u2019t answer prayers. On June 19 of this year, Haney \u2013 senior pastor of Highland Terrace Baptist Church in Greenville \u2013 got word of a terrible storm brewing and moving rapidly toward the church he … Continue reading God answered this pastor’s prayer<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9074,8436,3341],"class_list":["post-40115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-greenville-tornado","tag-ketr-fm","tag-npr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40117,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40115\/revisions\/40117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}