Magalia church preserved amidst raging inferno

In the northern California town of Magalia, congregants and residents huddled inside of the Magalia Pines Baptist Church, and were saved from the raging inferno that destroyed everything outside of the church.

As the Camp Fire sped towards Magalia in the early hours of Nov. 9, the church’s pastor Doug Crowder, helped 30 load 30 people into vehicles who were unable to evacuate and take shelter at the church. “We were in the driveway planning to leave,” Crowder told Baptist Press through tears, “and the entire world erupted.”

There was no fire in the adjacent woods, but all of a sudden “the woods exploded,” he said. “On all sides of us was fire.”

The 30 people in addition to four staff members stayed inside the church walls and prayed. They saw flames sparking horizontally from building to building outside and heard thousands of gallons of propane detonate at the hardware store next door.

When they came out of the church the next day they saw nothing but incineration. Despite this, Crowder said, “we were totally unscathed — totally.” Even the leaves on the trees on the church property were untouched.

Magalia is roughly 90 miles north of Sacramento and home to 12,000 residents.

The Camp Fire was the deadliest blaze in California history, yet Crowder stayed behind to help the elderly, the homeless, and those without enough gas for their vehicles or those who were just unable to evacuate.

The church facility later housed firefighters whose home was destroyed along with the homes of about 75 percent of the church’s 100 attendees. With assistance from the California Southern Baptist Convention’s (CSBC) disaster relief ministry, Magalia Pines is helping to feed its local community and begin cleaning up the town.

“This is the worst fire impact” Mike Bivins, CSBC disaster relief director, said he had seen in roughly 40 years, in an interview with CBN.

Charles Woods, director of missions for the local Sierra Butte Baptist Association, told Baptist Press that three other Southern Baptist churches were affected by the Camp Fire. None of the churches lost buildings, but all pastors’ homes were destroyed.

Crowder’s planned sermon for Veterans Day included using an analogy based on his military beret service pin, which states, “These things we do that others may live.” Crowder, a Vietnam veteran who served as an Air Force pararescueman, instead helped others live the reality instead of the analogy. The fire destroyed his pin and his home but his ministry, and others’ continues.