BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Aspen Park Baptist Church is cleaning up after a car smashed into the side of their church on Thanksgiving morning, leaving a shattered wall and debris everywhere.
"Definitely not the phone call that you are expecting to get on Thanksgiving morning," says Pastor Cameron Whaley.
He says they got a call from their alarm company and the Broken Arrow Police Department around 3:30 on Thanksgiving morning.
"They had the couple who was involved who had this car and what we were told was that a phone was dropped or something of that nature and hit the curb and once they hit the curb, there was really no way to stop," says Whaley.
He says he's so grateful that this accident did not happen during their church services. The crash happened on the north wall of the building which houses their children's ministry.
"It could have been occupied by 20 or so kids in that room," he says.
Due to the amount of damage, the church called an engineer to survey the building.
"I was looking to see if it's safe to take the car out before they do some things, and I'm going to be recommending some repairs to the building before they take the car away just to make sure nothing falls when the car is removed," says engineer, Bruce Clark.
Some of the repairs needed include adding support to the roof so that it doesn't collapse when the car is taken out. While the engineers work with the contractors to repair the building, Pastor Whaley says his focus in on the children.
"My main concern is the children's ministry that meets on a regular basis on the other side of that. They're not going to be able to meet in those rooms for months probably," says Pastor Whaley.
Thankfully, both the church and the driver are insured.
"Whenever I met the couple that was involved in this, they were very apologetic and I'm just glad that nobody was hurt and that the Lord protected them in that incident," says Whaley.
If you would like to help the church rebuild its children's ministry area or donate, you can contact Aspen Park Baptist Church at 918-455-2100.
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