Local church rising from the ashes to rebuild after fire

Posted on December 5, 2023
Victory Church Pastor Ed Herald shows off the progress of the new church. (Photo courtesy: Victory Church/YouTube)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – Rising from the ashes is what one local church is doing after a fire destroyed their sanctuary in early 2022.

Fire investigators determined the building, just off U.S. 150 in Bloomington, was a ‘total loss.’

Now, with the help of insurance money, Victory Church wants to rebuild – but this time, it is adding a children’s school called Foundation Christian Academy.

“It’s not like a business where maybe an owner would decide that he’s done and maybe move on to something else,” Victory Church Pastor Ed Herald told WJBC’s Afternoon Show. “This is a calling. This is something that you don’t have a choice. If you are really truly called to minister to people in the community and minister to families, the building is just a building, but the people are the church.”

However, the church is out of insurance money, and a fundraising campaign is underway.

So far, the church has collected over $3 million of the $4.5 million needed to open the school.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected]. 

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