GOSHEN COMMUNITY — On April 27, 2011, the members of the Piedmont Seventh-day Adventist Church lost their building, but not their faith.

The congregation of about 75 continued to worship, first at Folsom Funeral Home in Piedmont, and, once the walls were up, at their under-construction church.

“It was a disheartening thing to stand on the slab and nothing was there,” Pastor Rick Blythe said.

The church had long been Blythe’s dream. He graduated from Spring Garden High School, served in the U.S. Navy, led churches across the United States as their pastor, served as a missionary with his wife, Ginger, in the Marshall Islands, and “always dreamed of raising up a church in my hometown.”

That’s what he helped do with the church in extreme southern Cherokee County, which was organized in 2005. Members did most of the labor on the building and shortly before the tornado struck, the last mortgage payment had been made. A mortgage-burning party was planned for that week.

Despite the devastation, Blythe found reasons to be thankful. The church was empty when the tornado churned through Goshen a almost a year ago. If the twister had to hit a building, Blythe said he was glad it was an empty structure.

“I’m very thankful no one was killed,” he said.

The church was self-insured and donations from other churches and the community helped the congregation rebuild and recover what had been lost.

In about five months, a lot of the work on the church was finished. Today, Blythe said, it’s about 95 percent complete.

“It’s pretty amazing,” he said of the recovery. “We’re doing well. Our people kept their chins up.”

The 2,400-square-foot structure is built on the same spot as the destroyed building, but with a major addition—a full basement with 12-inch concrete walls.

Insurance would not cover the cost of the basement, but the church took out a mortgage to pay for what it decided was a necessity. Donations have helped with the loan.

The basement is not an official shelter, which would require government approval, but it’s a shelter for the community—a shelter in the storm.

“If anyone is in the area and bad weather is coming, they are welcome,” Blythe said.