Crosspoint offers thanks and praise from a repaired sanctuary, but tornado anniversary stirs memories  

Crosspoint Christian Church is in a new sanctuary, and a new daycare center is being designed to replace buildings ravaged by the Jan. 12, 2023 tornado. 

But Pastor David Nichols said the memories of the tornado remain, and the anniversary of the storm stirred up those feelings in his congregation.  

Nichols said 70 kids and 14 staff members were in the daycare building on Selma Avenue when the tornado hit. “When you walked in the building, it got really surreal,” Nichols said. “You saw all the destruction in the front, but you got into the building where the children were, and there was ceiling and roof above the area. The building was gone to that point.”  

“It’s like God put his hand in front of (where the people were sheltering) and said, ‘No more,’” Nichols said. “We give God all the praise and glory for that.”   

Although there were no deaths or serious injuries, the tornado has become a part of the lives of the congregation, especially the children and adults who were at the church during the event.  

Nichols said his wife was at the church with some ladies from the church during the tornado. “To watch her go through this and the other ladies go through this, you can tell this (anniversary) week has brought up all those memories, and they are reliving that event,” Nichols said.  

The daycare was scheduled to be closed Jan. 12 this year in observance of the one-year anniversary. Nichols said the staff asked for the day off, “and at that point we didn’t realize it was going to be a First Alert Weather Day, but now we realize closing was a good decision,” he said.  

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The tornado damaged the roof and ceiling over the stage in the sanctuary, according to Nichols. “You were looking at daylight when you stood in the foyer of the church,” he said. A contractor came in and secured the roof as best as he could with plywood and tarps. 

Nichols said that the original plan was to meet at another church until Crosspoint was repaired. “But the membership came to me and said we want to be home,” Nichols said. So the first Sunday after the tornado hit, which was a beautiful sunny day, the service was held on the front lawn of the church. After that, about 30 volunteers worked on the sanctuary to make it secure enough to use.  

The congregation has met in the church every Sunday since that first service on the lawn. “We had some Sundays it was storming, and we had buckets on the stage where the musicians were playing,” Nichols said.  

Repairs to the sanctuary were completed about a month ago, and a new daycare building will be built on the site where the old building once stood. It is currently in the design stage and should be ready for the kids and the staff in about 18 months, according to Nichols. 

The Crosspoint daycare is currently being held at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. “That has been a really cool partnership,” Nichols said. “Within just a couple of days after the storm, Pastor Steve Burton reached out to me.” They have a building at Cornerstone that Crosspoint daycare was able to move into in just one week. 

Nichols said that the outpouring of love and support from the community has been overwhelming, and it has continued all year.  

“There is a slogan that started last year, and that’s ‘Selma Strong,’” Nichols said. “If we can just live that beyond the tornado. Because we are ‘Selma Strong’ at the end of the day.”