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North Beaver Baptist breaks ground on new building Less than a year after learning their beloved North Beaver Baptist Church had been deliberately set on fire, the church’s faithful congregation gathered June 23 to dedicate a nearby site that will be its new home.  “In many ways its been hard since the fire,” North Beaver Baptist Church Pastor Rick Miller said. “But in other ways its been a blessing too. We’ve seen so many people from the community and from other churches come out to support and help us.” The afternoon dedication ceremony included former pastors and messages of hope and rededication from many of the churches that have offered support to the congregation. Elected officials, including Fifth District Rep. Virginia Foxx, also marked the occasion.

“I’d really like to thank the members of all three fire departments - West Jefferson, Glendale Springs and New River - that came out to the ceremony,” Miller said. “Our deepest thanks and appreciation goes out to the fire departments. They worked all night and tried their best.”

Miller rushed to the scene shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday July 29, 2012, after a passing Ashe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy saw the fire and alerted emergency personnel who rushed to the scene.

“I made it to the church probably 15 minutes after they called West Jefferson (Volunteer Fire Department) out,” said Miller last year. “Flames were shortly shooting through the roof. It was so sad to watch.”

The West Jefferson, Glendale Springs, Jefferson, and New River Volunteer Fire Departments battled the blaze throughout the night but, in the end, it simply wasn’t enough.

Following an investigation, Ashe County Sheriff James Williams said the department believed an arsonist set the fire.

"All indications are that this was an arson. There was evidence of forced entry into the church," said Ashe Sheriff James Williams, who said the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation had been called in to help with the investigation.

Ashe County Fire Marshal Bob Davis said the fire appeared to have started in a small hallway located between the sanctuary and an office. He did not rule out multiple origin points for the fire, but did not further comment, as the investigation is ongoing.

“I’ve continued to speak with Sheriff Williams, and the investigation is ongoing, but we’re not focusing on that,” Miller said. “The Sheriff’s Office and the SBI have their job to do and we have ours - to preach the gospel.”

Miller said the congregations attention has turned to rebuilding a new North Beaver Baptist Church, a 4,000 square-foot structure two miles away from the old site near the New River.

“It’s a totally new floor plan,” Miller said. “We’ll incorporate some stained glass windows that survived the fire into the building, but the size and design of the new building will be very different from the old church.”

Miller thanked the members of churches and the community that have rallied around North Beaver Baptist in their time of need, including Bald Mountain Baptist Church that allowed the church to hold services in their sanctuary hall each Sunday.

“All those folks have really helped us up to this point, and made things a little bit easier,” Miller said. “So many people have reached out and helped us in so many ways. We simply can’t thank them enough.”

For more information, call Pastor Rick Miller at 336-649-0395.

Contributions to help rebuild North Beaver Baptist Church can be sent to:

REBUILD NORTH BEAVER

c/o Jessica Yearick

278 Country Mtn Lane

West Jefferson , N.C. 28694