The River of Life Christian Fellowship Church in New Sarpy was destroyed on Monday night after a massive fire ripped through the building and ruined everything inside.
The church’s pastor, Rev. Curtiss P. Stacey, said that the fire began when two people that live near the building attempted to steal scrap metal off of a trailer behind the church.
Jerry Cotton, 61, and Mark A. Bailey, 38, both of St. Charles St., turned themselves in to police in connection with the fire. The two are charged with simple burglary of a religious building and simple arson.
During the investigation of the fire, police say they located some stolen property from the church at the two suspects’ residences.
The fire occurred at about 8 p.m. and by the time it was put out, flames and damage had spread to every room of the building, which is on the corner of River Road and St. Charles Street.
Stacey said that the storage trailer was going to be removed on Tuesday and that the church staff was moving everything out of it. He said that somehow the two men found out that the trailer was going to be removed and decided to try to salvage materials from it. He believes that a torch was used to try to take aluminum off the side of the trailer, which resulted in the fire.
He said it appears that the fire then jumped from the trailer to the nearby church building.
“They didn’t have to do that – if they had just asked me I would have given it to them,” Stacey said. “They had no business being here.”
The church was very technologically advanced, with multiple flat-screen TVs, a sound system and computers aimed at keeping children engaged in the word of the Lord. All of their equipment was destroyed in the fire.
River of Life has been a part of the community for about 20 years, according to Sister Barbara Evans. Although the church lost about half of its membership after Katrina, it did stay open and now counts about 30 families as members. Evans said that they will rebuild the church to be bigger and better, but she has no idea how long it will take since they had no insurance on the building.
“You get a false sense of security – we went through hurricanes and never had any damage,” Evans said about not having insurance.
Until the church can be rebuilt, services will be held at Stacey’s home at 500 W. Harding St. in New Sarpy, just a few blocks from the church. In fact, his home is where the church originally began.
The church is accepting donations to help it rebuild and plans to set up an account with Capital One Bank. Donations can also be mailed to ROL Christian Church, P.O. Box 417, New Sarpy, LA 70078.
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