No One Hurt When Tornado Slams Into Tulsa Church

The pastor says everyone inside Tulsa's Bethel Seventh-Day Adventist Church Wednesday evening when a tornado hit were not injured.  

The church building at 46th Street North and Peoria was severely damaged but the Pastor John Malcolm Phipps Jr. says everyone attending a service in the sanctuary survived the twister.   He says the roof caved in and some of their offices on the upper level fell into the sanctuary, but they all were safe after getting to the church's lobby.

"We were just starting to have prayer, the sirens were going off, and some of the people wanted to leave.  I encouraged them not to leave, to stay in the building.  This is probably one of the safest buildings in North Tulsa.  The sanctuary isn't, but the rest of the building is, so we probably need to get out of here.  Just as I said that, the roof started coming off," said John Malcolm Phipps Jr.

Special Coverage: Tornado Outbreak: March 30, 2016

He says the church suffered extensive rain damage and some of the cars in the parking lot lost their windows.  

Pastor Phipps says the church just finished a $300,000 remodel last summer and insurance should help them rebuild.