Sheffield Church Gets New Building

On July 18, 2008 the historic Sheffield Federated Church in the small northern Vermont town of Sheffield, VT was struck by lightning and burned down. The building was actually struck twice and the fire department was able to put the fire out after the first strike. Though the damage was severe after that first strike, the building could have probably been saved. But during the night the fire re-started, perhaps due to a second lighting strike, and during that second fire later that night, the building was completely destroyed. The small congregation of less than 40 has met for over a year in the town hall and other places in the village. It has been a hard year and filled with many disappointing setbacks. They were unable to rebuild on the same site due to septic system code restrictions. They had to find new land and overcome mountains of legal paperwork. But in October 2009 they were finally able to erect a new building. Insurance funds and a generous gift from Hillcrest Baptist Church of Austin, Texas provided the funds to make the new building possible. The congregation hopes to hold services in the new building before Christmas.