The Phil Campbell Restoration Church, formerly known as the Phil Campbell Church of God, was entirely destroyed during the tornados of April 27, 2011. Despite this, the church rebuilt and continued to serve the community. From organizing a food pantry to hosting the juniors and seniors of Phil Campbell High School for almost an entire semester, the church has been a large part of the community of Phil Campbell.
The pastor of the Restoration Church, Chris Burns, has been a pastor for the last five-and-a-half-years and has lived in Phil Campbell for almost six years, originally moving to the area in September of 2010.
Pastor Burns, along with his wife and two children, run the church almost 24/7 and were directly involved with the recovery effort after the storms in 2011.
Some of the projects the church took part in were organizing a food pantry for anyone in need, organizing a program to feed students over the weekends when school lunches wouldn’t be available, hosting the PCHS Robotics Team in their building for two years in a row, and opening their doors to the junior and senior students at Phil Campbell High School when the new school took longer than anticipated to complete.
Early on, the Restoration Church was there for the community. Only four days after the storms, church service was held on the slab of concrete where the church previously stood. Around 150 people were there for the service, as well as both local and national news outlets that broadcast the service across the country.
In the five years after the storms, the Restoration Church has done its best to be there for the community. This was done in numerous ways but comes down to the motto Pastor Burns described when asked about how he thought the church had benefitted the community sense the tornadoes.
“We made a choice. Our mission after the storm was truth, love and loyalty," Burns said. "We love everybody, regardless of their status in life. We were going to teach God’s truth, and we were going to be loyal to the community. We were going to be consistent. We’re going to be there.
“When the storms came through, we said that we’ve got to be here. So I believe that made an impact on the community, that this little, small church that was on the outside of town made a stand and said that we lost everything but we aren’t stopping. I believe that gave people hope in the fact that this little church could do that, and a pastor that had only been here eight months and that had a congregation of twenty, stood up and said that we aren’t going anywhere."
While the church was originally named the Phil Campbell Church of God, the name recently changed to Phil Campbell Restoration Church. Burns described the reason behind the change as a reflection of their purpose to restore the people.
“Our whole mission was restoring people," he said. "After the storms, that became our entire goal, to bring restoration to the town of Phil Campbell as well as the people in the town. So changing the name was kinda the last step in this whole process of fulfilling our mission, which is to bring restoration--from restoration to people’s lives who were once broken, to helping restore Phil Campbell to what it once was years ago."
Pastor Burns said he thinks the town of Phil Campbell has come “leaps and bounds ahead” of where it was in the past. Now that the town has had the opportunity to get grants for new projects and the way that the infrastructure was forced to improve, he believes the town is now miles ahead of where it used to be.
When asked what he would say to the community for the five-year anniversary, Pastor Burns said that he would tell the community three things.
“The first is, don’t give up. Don’t stop. No matter what happens, don’t stop," Burns said. "The second is to heed the warnings. Warnings are there for a reason. It could be a weather warning or a warning about other dangers, but heed those warnings.
"Probably the most important thing that I would tell people is that God is faithful. No matter what goes on, no matter what happens in life, God is faithful.”
