KEATON BEACH–One year after Hurricane Helene flooded their church and destroyed everything inside, members of Blue Creek Baptist Church in Keaton Beach are now holding services beneath a pole barn on their new property, attracting visitors almost every week and looking ahead to the future and the construction of a new building.

“We’re outside with the sand gnats, but God has given us good weather and that’s amazing,” said Henry Cannington, associational missions strategist for Taylor Baptist Association who is serving as interim pastor. “It can be pretty hot this time of year, but we’ve had just the right wind, and God is blessing us.”

While holding services outdoors may not seem ideal – due to the heat and the bugs and all – Cannington said the “come as you are” atmosphere is very attractive to area residents in the Big Bend area of Florida, which include vacationers and those with second homes.

“Being under a pole barn in a new location is sort of exciting,” he said “People show up who normally don’t go to church. They see that we’re not a so-called ‘normal’ church – the old traditional kind – and they see us as being flexible. We are not confined by four walls. We don’t have any walls. We’ve got open air out here. We’re not worried about stained glass and stuff.”

And while this is in the Keaton Beach area, this is not the typical Florida beach that tourists think of, Cannington said, noting it’s not like the beaches at St. George Island or Panama City to the west. “Our beach is a different kind of beach. It’s not a wavey beach. We call it the flats because it’s not really deep. When you do baptisms at this beach, you got to make sure it’s high tide.”

When Hurricane Helene struck in September 2024, it was the third storm to hit the area over the course of 13 months and the most damaging, with an estimated 90% of homes in the area destroyed. The reported 10-12-foot storm surge brought in about eight feet of water, flooding the former church building up to the ceiling and destroying everything, including all of the church’s written history. In the days after, church members and volunteers came in to help with cleanup, pulling all the furniture, office equipment, supplies and more outside into large piles, resembling what you see at a landfill.

To rebuild or renovate that building was deemed too expensive because the property is in the flood zone and building codes require any new construction to be high off the ground.  The church began holding services beneath a pole barn on a church member’s property.

When people learned about the church’s misfortune due to social media and this story from the Florida Baptist Convention, volunteers came to assist with cleanup efforts and donations came pouring in from churches, Christian and charitable organizations, and individuals from throughout Florida and beyond. The church was able to use some of those funds to buy 14 acres of land located about six miles away that is not in the flood zone and does not have the same building height requirements as the original property. They built a new pole barn on the property and began holding services there in the spring.

Now the church’s building committee is pushing ahead with plans for the construction of a new building on the property. They are hoping to start construction next summer with a mix of professional and volunteer help from churches and Christian groups like Carpenters for Christ and Campers for Christ. The church has raised about $300,000 from internal and external contributions toward its goal of $500,000 for this project.

While church members are excited about the future, Cannington said change is not always easy.

“It’s almost like God speeded it up for us to see great things happen,” he said. “We would have been stuck there because you fall in love with your facilities and you wouldn’t want to move. But you’ve got to enlarge your space so you can reach people. That’s what God has done. He has opened the doors for us, and this will probably be the largest church in the area.”

The church is currently averaging about 70 in attendance, but often it’s more like 80 or 90. “We had over 100 on Labor Day weekend,” he said. “We have visitors coming every week, like first-time guests. Not every church can say that.”

The church has a trailer near the pole barn that is used for its young children. Half of the space is used for a nursery, and half is used for children under third grade. Meetings for small group Bible study are currently held in members’ homes, but soon they may begin meeting in the parsonage at their former location, which is high above the ground. Members are still discussing how they will use that facility or if they might sell the property. They have also started the process of searching for a new pastor.

Cannington said he has often used these verses from Ephesians 3:20-21 to encourage members:
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.”

“The One who parted the Red Sea, who fed the Israelites in the wilderness, who rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls with Nehemiah, He’s the One who can rebuild the church right here,” he said.

“They have really latched on to our great God. He’s the One who is able to do it. He’s the One we’ve got to look to! So, there’s that spirit of expectation and it has unified them. They are excited and looking forward to reaching their community.”