wfn.org | Tornado Hits Churches in Southeast

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CONTACT: 	Joretta Purdue
(10-71BP){174}
		Washington, D.C. (202)546-8722	 March 24, 1998

NOTE: A photograph will be available with this story.

Tornadoes take a life, cause problems
for United Methodists in Southeast

				by United Methodist News Service

	Tornadoes that wreaked havoc in Georgia and North Carolina on
the first day of spring took a toll of United Methodists in both states.
A church in North Carolina was destroyed and one in Georgia was damaged
by the March 20 twisters. At least one of the day's 13 storm-caused
deaths was that of a United Methodist.
	The Mayodan (N.C) United Methodist Church was destroyed. A
textile plant, a Baptist church and an apartment building were also hit
in this town of about 2,500 people northwest of Greensboro.
	In nearby Stoneville -- just before a tornado leveled much of
the town -- teacher Beth Mitchell, 25, and her mother, librarian Nancy
Lee Mitchell, had left the school where they both worked.
On their way home, 200-mile-per-hour winds slammed their car against the
concrete wall of a building.
	The young teacher was killed instantly. Her mother was admitted
to a hospital in critical condition but is reported to be improving,
according to the Rev. Marion Moore Jr., minister of Hodgin Memorial
United Methodist Church in Stoneville.
Beth Mitchell's funeral service was to be held at the church on March
24.
	Moore said Mitchell was a bubbly, outgoing person who had
recently won the state championship in shag dancing, a vigorous hopping
step that was popular in the '20s. 
With the other members of the family, she was a lifelong United
Methodist and was active in Sunday school and church. Her father, Worth,
sings in the choir and has held leadership positions. Her only sibling,
brother Chad, works with his father and grandfather in the family
business.
The Mayodan church held its Sunday morning worship outdoors March 22, in
the area where its fellowship hall had stood only two days earlier.
The church was insured for $550,000, and the congregation plans to
rebuild -- just as it did in 1911, when a previous structure was wiped
out by a tornado.
In Georgia, where tornadoes had hit earlier the same day, Hopewell
United Methodist Church of Murrayville, northeast of Atlanta, sustained
damage. Some of it was attributed to the back door blowing open and
admitting wind and rain. Doors at the rear of the sanctuary were ripped
off by the storm, some sanctuary windows were broken, and water soaked
part of the ceiling of the fellowship hall.
The church and parsonage sustained roof damage as well.
Nevertheless, the church became a distribution point for relief supplies
for the harder-hit surrounding area. Eleven people died in the storms in
Hall County, where Hopewell Church is located. Some members received
minor injuries, but none were killed. One member's home was destroyed.
In adjoining Cleveland County, where one person died, First United
Methodist Church of Cleveland became the Red Cross disaster
headquarters, offering food and shelter to the victims.
Trinity United Methodist Church, Clermont, distributed camping gear to
storm victims who wanted to stay on their own property but whose homes
were destroyed or uninhabitable.
						# # #
	Information for this story was contributed by Kevin Rippin,
editor of the North Carolina Christian Advocate, and Kelly Holton,
associate editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate in Georgia.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/