Blaze Guts Church in South Carolina

About 90 members of the Lawndale Baptist Church must find another place to hold Easter services after their church was consumed by a suspicious fire early Thursday.

Jeremy Nealey, a lifelong member of the Loris church, stood in the parking lot at noon watching fire investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division and Horry County scrape wet ash and pull twisted chairs from what was the church's fellowship area.

Only the walls of Lawndale were left standing. The church's roof collapsed in the inferno, destroying everything inside.

"How? All you can do is speculate," Nealey said. "There's a lot of questions."

There might be no quick answers for Nealey and the congregation, who were planning an Easter sunrise service Sunday. SLED said tests to determine the cause of the fire could take months.

Local investigators said arson is a possibility.

"You've got a building that is in normal operation and then catches fire," said Van Sissell, Horry County arson investigator. "That would lead toward a suspicious fire."

There were no arrests or suspects in the case late Thursday. Sissell said a golf cart and a four-wheeler were stolen from a rural neighborhood around the time of the fire but that the incidents were not part of the fire investigation.

Nine county fire stations were called to the blaze at 4:37 a.m. By the time firefighters arrived, about 50 percent of the church was engulfed.

SLED and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were called in to investigate, which is routine since a rash of church arsons terrorized predominantly black congregations across the South in the 1990s.

The Lawndale church has no black members, Deacon Daniel Norris said.

Lawndale has held services since 1951 for the rural area along Highway 66. In the past few months, the congregation replaced the roof and heating system, Norris said.

The deacon said he came to the church soon after it caught fire. He watched as fire crews fought fruitlessly for hours to save the structure.

"By the time we got here, the roof on the fellowship hall had already fallen," Norris said.

He said there were no recent threats against the church; after the fire, there was only confusion.

Jodi Anderson of Conway said she grew up in the area and drove to the burned-out church on her lunch hour.

"I got married here," she said. "My sister and my family go to church here."

Anderson said she couldn't find words to describe her emotions as she looked over the ruins.

Her friend Christine Miller of Myrtle Beach summed up the feelings.

"Why would anyone want to burn down a church?" Miller asked.

The Rev. Chris Hardee described the area surrounding the church as quiet and the residents as "just good country people."

He said the congregation will survive the loss.

"We are not going to worry about what was done; we are going to worry about what we need to do," Hardee said. "We'll make it through."

The church was covered by fire insurance, and several other churches offered to open their doors to the Lawndale congregation, he said.

Martha Canup, who lives close to the church property and attends services there some Sundays, said that if other churches in the area help, Lawndale likely will be rebuilt.

"I feel sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will come back," she said.

Distributed by the Associated Press