After tornado destroyed original building, Salado church opens new facility for Christmas

SALADO, Texas (KWTX) - A very special gift for the community of Salado came just in time for Christmas. This holiday weekend the First Cedar Valley Baptist Church held its first services in a brand-new facility.

On April 12, an EF-3 tornado tore through Salado and completely destroyed the church, leaving just a concrete slab.

“The initial feeling was a sinking feeling, one of what do we do now?” pastor Donnie Jackson told KWTX News 10.

From having service on the slab to a portable building, the destruction didn’t stop pastor Jackson from meeting with his congregation.

“We have a homebuilder in our church and he built us a temporary building,” Jackson said.

The doors officially opened on Friday with a Christmas service at the new church. The First Cedar Valley Baptist Church held an additional service on Christmas. Cicero Partton was among those at the special Sunday service.

“It was a lot of work to get here and we’re still not finished,” Partton said. “There’s a still a lot of little things that need to be done, but we’re close.”

The speakers in the pulpit aren’t quite ready yet and officials still haven’t installed the sign outside.

“We don’t have our steeple yet, we don’t have our baptistry yet,” Jackson said.

But thanks to generous donations from church members pastor Jackson finally reached this Christmas miracle.

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