AG Church Destroyed by Apparent Tornado

It was 1 a.m. Saturday, March 25, and Martha Grigg, pastor of Ringgold (Louisiana) Assembly of God, was where no 73-year-old woman wants to be in the middle of the night — standing outside looking at what remained of her church. 

Grigg received a call from her daughter, Kaye, that her daughter, Meggan (Grigg’s granddaughter), had called and said she believed the church had suffered a little damage from the storm. 

Evidently, “a little damage,” is a relative phrase. 

“I was thinking maybe a tree limb came down or the roof maybe lost some shingles — I could handle that,” Grigg says. 

But that’s not what she drove up on. When she arrived, the church was in shambles, while the nearby parsonage had minor damage. 

“[The church] was completely demolished,” Grigg says. “The building had no roof, what little roof was left, had caved into the inside of building. One side of the building was down, and there was debris in the trees, in the ditch, in the parking lot . . . it was just devastating.” 

Grigg, who has been widowed for the past nine years, has deep ties to the church. She began attending the church when it was first launched in 1978, and has been pastoring the church since 2012. 

John Ashbrook, a member of First Assembly in West Monroe, Louisiana, and the son of former Louisiana District Superintendent Lowell Ashbrook, is a semi-retired contractor and has built churches around the world. When he heard about the church being destroyed, he contacted the district immediately on Monday to offer his help in walking Grigg through the insurance challenges and into the recovery process. 

“When I met with Pastor Martha on Tuesday, she was a bit distraught,” Ashbrook says. “But I reassured her that a lot of help will come in, a lot of people will help. Brother [Scott] Holmes [district superintendent] told me that there are teams already wanting to come in to help.” 

"We have teams through our Louisiana Disaster Relief ready to go," Holmes confirms. "We're just waiting on the green light from the insurance adjuster."

For Grigg, Ashbrook has been a God-send, as he is walking through the process with the insurance adjuster and being an encouragement to her. 

“Brother Ashbrook has been advising us, and it’s been fabulous for us,” Grigg says. “He knows what he’s doing.” 

Holmes visited the demolished church on Saturday, meeting with Grigg, and observing that the church was the only structure in the community that was seriously damaged. "Some folks have already started giving (through the district office) to help the church recover," he says.

Although the church was insured, Ashbrook believes about the only thing that may be salvageable is the building’s footprint -- the slab. But he believes this may be Grigg’s opportunity to cast her own vision for the future of the church. 

“I told Sister Martha this morning, God was finished with that footprint and now, with the insurance money, it’s time to put a new one on the ground and build the church back for the future.” 

Despite the initial personal devastation at the loss, Grigg is now feeling more optimistic about the future as help has come alongside her. 

“At my age, when envisioning a building project, I’m thinking more like an add on,” she says, managing a chuckle, “not where you start completely over!” 

Currently Grigg is considering options for where the church should meet until a new facility can be built. One of the options is to meet in the American Legion Hall — where the church’s founding pastor, James Nailes, originally started holding services. 

However, whatever path they ultimately choose to follow, Grigg remains steadfast in her faith. 

“God is so good,” she says. “He’s been so faithful to me all these years; He’s just been totally faithful.”