Video: Ebenezer Baptist rises from the ashes

Monday, November 20, 2006

By Annie O'Neill
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The members of Ebenezer Baptist returned to Wylie Avenue yesterday, wearing their Sunday finest to celebrate the reopening of the 131-year-old church, two years after the original building was destroyed by fire.



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The Rev. J.V. Alfred Winsett, Ebenezer's minister for the last 33 years, presided over a service welcoming visiting clergy and the return of 1,000 members temporarily exiled to other churches.

The gray stone church has been replaced by a $7 million red stone building that embraces the future while honoring the church's storied past, including the sacrifice of the two firemen who died on March 13, 2004.

The Pittsburgh firefighters -- battalion chief Charles G. Brace and firefighter Richard Stefanakis -- were killed when the church's 115-foot bell tower collapsed. Their sacrifice will be remembered in a 3 p.m. memorial service at Ebenezer Batpist Church, on Sunday Dec. 3, 2006.

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First published on November 20, 2006 at 12:00 am

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This video was produced by Annie O'Neill.