LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A fire that badly damaged a Hardin County church likely started after lightning struck the building, its pastor said.
Pastor Don Sexton of Summit United Methodist Church in Summit, Ky., said no one was hurt.
Pictures show the steeple afire, before flames spread to the rest of the building.
Church members will meet at 11 a.m. Sunday at Freeman Lake in Elizabethtown for services and a picnic, in an event with a sister church that was previously planned.
Eventually they will worship in a nearby community building, Sexton said.
Sexton said an insurance adjuster was to look at the damaged building Friday and that the church will rebuild.
He thanked volunteers from eight fire departments who fought the blaze.
Earlier story posted here:
Fire destroyed the Summit United Methodist Church in Hardin County, Ky., Thursday night.
Photos from Alanna Wethington showed the steeple aflame first, then the entire structure engulfed in flames about 10 p.m.
The church is in the small community of Summit, on Summit Road, north of U.S. 62 between Elizabethtown and Leitchfield.
A Hardin County sheriff's dispatcher said firefighters were still on the scene and that it was still too early to tell if the fire was connected to severe thunderstorms in the area. Lightning was responsible for other fires in the Louisville area Thursday night.
The church website (http://archives.umc.org/Directory/ChurchDetails.asp?FAC=38122) says it has an average worship attendance of 36 people.
There was no word on any injuries.
Photos from the WDRB News Facebook page, posted by Alanna Wethington of AMW Photography.
Copyright 2012 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.
The steeple burns at Summit United Methodist Church in Summit, Ky., Thursday night. Alanna Wethington/AMW Photography
Summit, Ky., church engulfed in flames Thursday night. Alanna Wethington/AMW Photography
