The First African Methodist Episcopal Church hosted its first service Sunday after a three-alarm fire destroyed its building one week ago.
OAKLAND -- The East Bay's oldest Black church hosted its first service Sunday after a three-alarm fire destroyed its building one week ago.
"The building is burned down but the ministry doesn't stop. The church is not the building. The church is what's in your heart," said Rodney Smith, the senior pastor of FAME. "We're experiencing this together. We're bonding together. We're holding our brothers and sisters up," said FAME saxophonist Stabe Wilson."Just the shock of seeing three aerial trucks pouring streams . Unfathomable," Wilson recalled."You've taken our building but you have not taken our souls so we are all holding each up," Wilson said.
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