Renovations are finally complete at the First Presbyterian Church in Effingham about a year-and-a-half after a fire severely damaged the building that many congregants have called their spiritual home for decades.
The church held an open house Saturday to celebrate the completion of the renovation project and the reopening of the building. During the open house, attendees saw photos of different parts of the church both before and after the renovation to illustrate just how drastic the improvements made to the building were.
The fire struck on Oct. 20, 2022. Although firefighters managed to contain it to the office area where it originated, just about all of the building was damaged. The cause of the fire was never determined.
“The ceiling, roof, everything had to be replaced,” said Phil Toops, the member of the church who spearheaded the renovation project. “Every wall in the church had to be repainted because of the smoke. It actually had to be cleaned and repainted.”
Toops, who has been a member of the church since 1978 and was married there, said it took about two months to fully ventilate the building after the fire. He also said that in addition to the renovation, the church had to pay to have asbestos removed from the building.
“That was a major project,” he said regarding the asbestos removal project. “Everything paper, everything plastic and everything fabric had to be discarded.”
While the renovation project didn’t do much to change the overall layout of the church, much of its interior has been upgraded significantly, and the building is now ADA compliant. Toops said upgrades include state of the art sound and video streaming systems and new LED lighting.
“All of our classrooms are equipped with video,” he said. “We also have a three-camera streaming system now. We stream services.
“When we did this, we tried to improve it as much as we could.”
The church is now fitted with a new fire alarm system and new security cameras. Additionally, some upgrades, like the church’s new WiFi system, were paid for with donations from community members.
“We were required by the city to have a direct alarm to the fire department and all that,” Toops said.
However, the vast majority of the funding for the approximately $2.7 million renovation project came from the church’s insurance provider, according to the treasurer of the church’s session, Tom Henderson.
“I had the insurance on the place with State Farm here in town,” Henderson said. “Probably, we’ll pay out close to $2 million.”
Just about everything in the church is new, but the church managed to preserve the murals that can be seen on walls throughout the building.
“They were able to clean those and seal them,” Toops said.
The church also recently added what it calls “The Blessing Box,” which is now located just outside of the church. Residents are encouraged to drop off items such as canned goods, snacks, toiletries and socks at the box where residents that need them can pick them up.
“People come in and restock that all the time,” Toops said.
Toops is happy with how the church looks, and he’s glad that the church is finally able to hold services there again.
“We’re proud of what we were able to do with that money,” he said. “It feels like coming home again. We were fortunate that the congregation was patient too.”
During the 19 months that it took to renovate the church, congregants met at The Cross at the Crossroads in Effingham for services.
“The Cross Foundation was very generous. They opened their doors to us,” Toops said. “We’ve been back in for about three weeks.”
Many of those at the open house Saturday, like Theresa Harner of Effingham, are members of the church and are, like Toops, thrilled to have their building back. Harner has been a member of the church for about 40 years, and in addition to being the clerk for the church’s session, she is involved with the church’s choir, Sunday school and women’s groups.
“It hasn’t changed the layout so much, but everything’s bright and new,” Harner said of the renovations. “I’ve got some fond memories. It’s kind of my life.”
Harner said she’s been “anxious” to return to the church ever since the fire because she misses interacting with other members of the church on a regular basis.
“Because we’ve been away so long, it’s like coming home after someone has remodeled our house, so it’s very refreshing,” she said. “You forget what it was like to be here because we were gone so long. You forgot what it’s like to be at home.
“It’s a gathering place.”