Enid church knows pain, promise in aftermath of 1996 arson

ENID — The feeling of deja vu was inevitable.

The Rev. Alfred Baldwin read the news reports about a recent spate of fires at predominantly black churches in the South and was immediately whisked back in time to the balmy early morning hours of June 13, 1996.

He remembered seeing flames rising higher and higher as the walls of First Missionary Baptist Church crumbled.

He recalled the sight of pews smoldering in the ashes, the smell of smoke that filled the air, the sound of fire sirens blaring and people crying.

When dawn broke on that fateful morning, Baldwin and his congregation were left with only a burned-out shell where their house of worship had been.

All these memories rose to the surface as he took in details of the rash of church fires that occurred in the aftermath of the Charleston, S.C., church shootings. 

Baldwin, 72, and his wife, Vicki, said that morning and the days and months that followed aren’t easily forgotten — even after 19 years.

What kept them moving beyond the pain of the fire were the promises the Lord kept, they said.

“I remember one of my church members calling me about three in the morning to tell me the church was on fire and I remember standing there and watching the firefighters trying to put it out,” Baldwin said.

“I wondered why it was happening to us but I knew the Lord was still with us. And He was.”

Fire catapulted church to national fame

The fire that destroyed the 103-year-old First Missionary Baptist Church in 1996 thrust the Baldwins and their congregation into the national spotlight.

Individuals and organizations across the state and country — of different races and denominations — rallied behind the predominantly black church and many sent money to help the congregation rebuild. A United Methodist congregation in Enid allowed the congregation to worship rent-free in their building until a new church building could be constructed.

State and federal authorities initially speculated that the blaze was the latest target in what appeared to be a rash of about 30 arsons at black churches throughout the South and other parts of the country.

The Baldwins said the fire that gutted their Enid church gained much attention because it was the only one in Oklahoma.

A mentally disabled man was eventually prosecuted for the arson and placed in a mental institution. There was not determination that the blaze was racially motivated, according to news reports at the time. 

Alfred Baldwin said he ended up traveling to Washington, D.C., several times after President Bill Clinton formed the U.S. Church Arson Task Force. The preacher said he became the unofficial spokesman for the victimized churches in their dealings with insurance carriers.

Vicki Baldwin said through connections made in the aftermath of the fire, she and three church members were invited to be part of a mass choir that sang at the Democratic National Convention and later, at Clinton’s inaugural ball.

Most significantly, they said, the fire resulted in the building their congregation currently enjoys.

The Baldwins said the previous building, which was one block away from their present house of worship, was old and even with renovations, still presented some problems.

Alfred Baldwin said with the insurance money the church received, along with donations and gifts from around the state and country, First Missionary Baptist Church moved into its new home in December 1997, just in time for Christmas.

The new building, with more modern design and a sanctuary seating more than 400, was a wonderful gift to replace the former old structure made of concrete blocks that seated about 100, he said. 

Baldwin said the congregation built its new house of worship at 467 Owen K. Garriott because the street is heavily traveled and well-lit.

Determined to forgive

Alfred Baldwin said if he could give any comfort and advice to the churches whose buildings were set ablaze in recent weeks, he would recommend that they forgive the perpetrators.

“We forgave immediately, and I think that’s why a lot of people helped us,” he said.

Baldwin teared up and his voiced cracked with emotion as he recently discussed the fire.

“Forgive was what the Lord told me to do right away, and I did,” he said. “Watching my church members cry when they saw the burned building was so hard, but I told them God said forgive and they did.”  

Most church burnings not racially motivated 

Church fires in Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida occurred in the weeks after nine people attending a Bible study at the predominantly black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston were gunned down by an alleged white supremacist.

In some news reports, speculation rose in the black community that the arson attacks may have been some form of retaliation for the increased opposition to the Confederate flag, which has been associated with white supremacist movements. 

Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said it’s unclear whether there is really what could legitimately be called a “spate” of arsons in the wake of the Charleston church shootings and it was just as unclear back in 1995 and 1996. 

He said there are numerous church fires each year in the United States — about 2,000 — but most of the blazes that turn out to be arson are not racially motivated.

Potok said speculation about black church burnings being racially motivated typically gains traction because of the history of white supremacists resorting to such attacks.

“I think it is entirely understandable for black congregations to be suspicious because the fact is the black church in America has been under attack by white supremacists going all the way back to the 1820s.

Potok said the peak of such attacks was between 1954 and 1968 when there were about 100 Ku Klux Klan-orchestrated attacks on black churches.

He said the churches were targeted because they were the center of the black community, and as such, were typically the central headquarters for organizing of any opposition to oppression. 

“So they have every right to be suspicious."