With the charred remains of their Cobb County church in the background, dozens of congregation members gathered in the parking lot for a lively Sunday morning service, as they remained hopeful despite the actions of someone who had once prayed alongside them, officials said.
While situated next to caution tape and an assortment of news crews, Pastor Raphael Grant spoke about it being the “dawning of a new day,” less than a week after Aries Jordan was accused of intentionally burning down Prayer City Eagles Chapel International Ministries and threatening to kill Grant and his wife, according to her warrant.
“It’s so important that after this devastation, we can come together and pray, and encourage the congregation that it is not over until God says it’s over,” Grant told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday morning as his burned church loomed behind him. “We are going to rebuild — bigger, better, stronger — and we are going to come back.”
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
Jordan had worshipped inside the roughly 33,000-square-foot church in Austell “a few times” but was not a member, one of its ministers, Derrick Godwins, told the AJC.
On Sept. 29, she broke into the place of worship on Joe Jerkins Boulevard and started the fire around 8:30 p.m., police said. Firefighters saw flames coming from the roof of the structure, and crews would stay on scene for about 19 hours, according to a press release from Austell Fire Chief Brandon Merritt.
That night, Grant said he was in his bedroom in Powder Springs when another minister called to let him know his beloved church was on fire, so he “jumped out of bed” and drove for more than 30 minutes. He then saw the flames.
“I really cannot describe my feelings,” Grant told the AJC. “It was unthinkable.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
A plastic container of ignitable liquid that did not belong to the church was found at the scene, and Jordan was later arrested at an apartment complex in Mableton, authorities said. She faces several felony charges, including arson, terroristic threats–burn damage property, burglary and vandalism to a place of worship, according to Cobb jail records. She is being held without bond.
Grant, who founded the church two decades ago, said he was happy Jordan was booked into jail Wednesday. On Sunday, he told those in attendance to forgive Jordan, who said she was “going to burn down the church” and stated afterward that “your building is gone,” according to the pastor. Church officials said her motive is unclear.
“I forgive her for what she did because you know you have to be demonized, you have to be possessed by a spirit for you to go burn down a church,” Grant said. “And so, you know, the Bible says that we are not fighting against flesh and blood. So I have forgiven her, but I’m happy that she’s in the custody of the police.”
Prayer City Eagles Chapel had already survived severe flood damage in recent years and was just renovated, with work on the administrative block of the church finished four days before the blaze, Grant said.
Now, the building is almost unrecognizable.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
Most of its roof is gone, with wood planks hanging from the walls and the flooring covered in black ash. A massive pile of debris sits near the entrance. Grant said they didn’t have insurance because companies wouldn’t give them a policy because of the previous flood damage. The church created a GoFundMe page with a goal of $4,000,000 in donations to rebuild and move forward after the fire.
During his sermon, Grant had to collect himself while talking about everything his place of worship has been through.
“It does feel biblical. Just like the days of Noah, when the flood destroyed the world. We had the flood that destroyed the church, and now it is fire,” Grant told the AJC.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
In addition to serving as a church, Grant said it held a food pantry each month and routinely worked to develop young leaders. He stressed that it was also more than just a building; it was about the people and their faith.
Solomon Ohilapo, a member of Prayer City Eagles Chapel for 10 years, said what made Sunday’s gathering special was that the congregation came together for the first time since the fire. Outside the church, more than four dozen people, many with hopeful smiles and tapping feet, joined together in singing, clapping and praying.
At one point, the noise even drowned out the repeated horn from a passing train about 300 feet behind the parking lot. A man standing behind the rows of chairs at the service remarked how “not even a train can stop us today.”
Ohilapo said some of those in attendance traveled from far away, including Joel Munza, who made the nearly 500-mile trip from New Orleans to show support for a place that once helped him.
Munza said his friend introduced him to Prayer City Eagles Chapel six years ago when he was experiencing sickness and family difficulties, so the entire congregation prayed for his family during one service. He said he last visited a few months ago, when he was “in awe” of the renovations.
“And so, to see it burned after the flooding, again, I feel for them,” Munza told the AJC. “The church got me out of that bad place that I was in. And so, I never forgot that.”
Gifty Nyame attended the last service inside Prayer City Eagles Chapel and was shocked to hear about the fire the next day.
Since becoming a member four years ago, the church has made her feel part of something, so, like Munza, she wanted to return the favor while also seeing the devastation firsthand.
She said it felt different putting on church clothes alongside her two children for her first outdoor service there, especially considering the circumstances.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal
“You just can’t sit at home and imagine; you just want to see the impact,” she said. “We just left on Sunday, everything was fine, and to hear this happen on Monday, it was shocking, and so it broke me.”
Church officials said the future of Prayer City Eagles Chapel remains unclear, including the location of the next service. But they plan to keep fighting — and eventually rebuild together with the money raised.
Amid their shared pain, Nyame said you could see “hope in the eyes of people” Sunday.
“This is not the end, it is just the beginning,” Grant added. “It is the dawning of a new day.”
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