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Note #7939 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

'Suspicious' blaze destroys landmark Nashville church
03394
September 18, 2003

'Suspicious' blaze destroys landmark Nashville church

New pastor will arrive to burned-out Second Presbyterian Church

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE-The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) is investigating a fire that ravaged a prominent Presbyterian church in
Nashville during the early morning hours on Wednesday.
The three-alarm fire began at 4 a.m. on Sept. 17 at Second Presbyterian
Church on Belmont Blvd, causing what fire officials are estimating between
$1.5 and 2 million in damages.

According to ATF press agent Mark Leiser, the site investigation will begin
as soon as structural engineers give the okay for ATF agents to enter the
largely destroyed building-hopefully later on Thursday.

The blaze continued burning into the daylight hours, destroying the church's
sanctuary, offices and educational space, according to Phil Leftwich,
executive presbyter for Middle Tennessee Presbytery. "I arrived there about
5:30 Wednesday morning ... and stood and watched the place burn down," said
Leftwich in a telephone interview.

He said the only remnant of the steeple is its twisted metal frame and the
cross on top, a structure that firefighters feared might collapse.

The newly called pastor of the 400-member congregation, the Rev. Jim
Kitchens, was driving cross-country to begin work in Nashville in early
October. He is following the moving van that left Davis, CA, with his
possessions on Monday, and learned of the blaze by cell phone.

"Needless to say, he's coming into a pretty traumatic situation," said
Leftwich.

Because investigators have not been inside the structure yet, the ATF said
it's not appropriate to call the fire "set" or "incendiary." But both the ATF
and local firefighters have used the term "suspicious" to describe the early
morning fire that appeared to originate near the pulpit.

"There are a tremendous number of interviews to do," said Leiser, in addition
to analyzing the scene itself. He said the word suspicious is being used
because of the time and intensity of the fire-and the fact that the building
is a church.

Charles Shannon, assistant public information officer for metropolitan
Nashville's fire department, said federal law requires that the ATF
investigate church fires.

When local firefighters entered the sanctuary, the fire appeared most intense
in the pulpit-area and near the fellowship doors, Shannon said. "Nobody was
supposedly in the building. The fire was burning in several areas. Until we
rule out some things, we'll continue to call it suspicious," he noted.

About 75 firefighters battled the blaze and were able to confine the fire to
the sanctuary and office buildings.

The assembled team includes electrical engineers, fire investigators,
explosive technology experts and forensic chemists, a grouping that ATF
Special Agent in Charge Jim Cavanaugh calls a "dream team."

The congregation held a service on the lawn of the parish house Wednesday
night and worship will be held in the church's smoke-damaged activity
building on Sunday morning. The Rev. Steve Hancock-the church's former pastor
and now the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Ark.-was on
hand for the service.

"We felt somehow better just being together," said Andy Finch, a member of
the congregation.

Jane Hines, the communications director for the Synod of Living Waters and
the Worship Committee chairperson at Second Church, told the Presbyterian
News Service that church has one of the largest outreach programs in the
city-including providing services for senior citizens and homeless people.

"Lots and lots of outreach ministry is disrupted by this fire. We'll be able
to worship somewhere. But our community ministries have been disrupted ...
and that's really bad," said Hines, who said five other churches have
volunteered their sanctuaries for worship.

Nashville police have questioned several individuals about the fire, but no
arrests have been made.

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