Victory Church begins rebuild after January fire

BLOOMINGTON (25 News Now) - A Bloomington church is not letting a January fire set it back. It’s beginning to rebuild from the ground up. The executive pastor says it may have been a blessing in disguise.

“We had a lot of blood sweat and tears invested into a place where we saw lives get saved, marriages restored, and then it’s on fire. So, it’s pretty painful,” said Executive Pastor Jarrod Herald.

Eight months ago, Herald watched for hours as his church burned. The 24,000 sq. ft. building was a total loss, but that was not going to stop them from rebuilding.

“It was actually cheaper for our church to tear the whole thing down and rebuild a brand new building,” said Herald.

The multi-million dollar project began construction this week. It will eventually seat 500 people and have a new youth center. Beams were saved from the fire and will be used in the new building.

“We also own the 12 acres right here so in the future, phases three four and five, we’ll continue that direction as we grow as a church,” said Herald.

In the meantime, the community has stepped in to help the church.

“We had multiple churches the day of the fire calling Pastor Ed and I saying, ‘What can we do, how can we help, do you need volunteers, you can use our building,’” said Herald.

The church has been able to hold its ministries throughout the week at different churches, along with its food distribution program.

“It’s been encouraging for us to continue to be a blessing to the Bloomington-Normal community and surrounding communities,” said Herald.

Herald says they are aiming for an eight to nine month turn-around with their first service this spring.

“The biggest thing we’re looking forward to is being home on our property,” Herald continued, “It very, very exciting.”

The Downs Fire Department has not responded to our request as to what caused the fire.

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