Warren William “Billy” Young was just 2 years old when a violent tornado tore through his family’s home church, the historic First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama, causing devastating damage.
It was 7 a.m. on Monday, May 1, 1978, when the tornado barreled through the sanctuary, destroying its massive brick walls, ripping out its stained-glass windows, and decapitating the towering church spire, the tallest in the city at the time.
One of only a few structures hit, the church looked destroyed. But not to the dedicated First Baptist family of faith. Young’s parents — his father Woodrow, a deacon and trustee, his mother Alice, president of the mission society — and other members rallied together to rebuild the city’s oldest black Baptist church.
They were determined to restore the renowned Gothic Revival to the beauty designed by African American architect David West Benjamin in 1894. Members gathered up bricks the tornado pitched all over the city, signed pledges, took out loans, and slowly put the church back together, using a member’s wedding photograph to reassemble the sanctuary.
Throughout the long recovery, they met in borrowed sanctuaries and never missed a Sunday. “My father often said the tornado could not stop God’s work,” Young said.
A Nightmare Repeated
That strong faith and determination honed in his family church helped to drive Young’s vigorous relief efforts following the tornado on Jan. 12 that destroyed one-third of Selma, his beloved hometown. The high-powered tornado, with winds up to 157 miles per hour, cut
