BENTONVILLE, Ind. (WTHR) – In Fayette County, they're still trying to calculate the financial cost of damage to a historic church hit by a tornado.
The building is barely standing. But the minister and church members at Bentonville Christian Church vow to rebuild.
And the storm, despite its devastation, brought out help and hope from many Hoosiers.
It took just one minute to nearly destroy the church that's stood in Bentonville for 135 years.
"It's a difficult thing to look at," said the church's minister Don Miller. "When you see it in real life, it just kind of takes your breath away. And it still does."
"It's tough, yeah," added Bentonville Fire Capt. John Clarke, "That fast and the damage was done."
The structure that survived a century of storms, even an arson attempt, was taken down by an EF-0 tornado.
"I looked at all the debris through the cemetery and across the road and the building and it's just, I said it's going to take weeks to clean this up," Clarke said.
But in the days since, this tiny congregation of about 25 members, witnessed volunteers from all over come to clear debris.
"We probably had 50 people on Sunday, maybe 50 people on Monday," Miller said. "There were pieces like this, hundreds of them, all over the cemetery and there was pieces of glass that size that were all over the cemetery."
"And you know, we're just a little place out in the middle of nowhere," tearing up at the generosity of even strangers, driving by, who pitched in.
"We had a lot of gawkers and we had some people say, 'what are you doing?' and we said 'picking up debris' and so some of them went home, changed clothes and came back," Miller explained. "Not only were they a gawker, they were a helper."
They made sure pews, hymnals, an organ and other salvageable items got out.
They also still hope to preserve a piano, now sitting under a blue tarp, that's literally holding up what remains of the church.
"Maybe it's symbolic in some ways," Miller said.
It's the very place our own Matt McCutcheon's mom inspired the congregation through music for decades.
"She's played the piano here for over 50 years," Miller said. "And Matt comes back and visits and it's dear to his heart."
Church members plan to keep those memories going, to eventually rebuild somehow.
Their spirit and faith in God are much stronger than any storm.
"You've got to go beyond the crisis that happens in your life and he's going to lead you through those next steps. We're faithful and we know he'll lead us through that," Miller said.