A tornado caused significant damage to an Oklahoma community, including Crossroads Cowboy Church of the Nazarene’s satellite campus in Harrah just hours before Sunday service on 3 November.
A tornadic thunderstorm outbreak took place in central Oklahoma in the early morning hours. Five tornados touched down, causing significant damage from the southern part of Oklahoma City east toward Harrah. The tornado that struck Harrah was rated an EF-3 by the National Weather Service, which includes winds from 136-165 miles per hour (roughly 218-265 km per hour).
Crossroads Cowboy Church is a multi-campus cowboy church spread across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The Harrah location was planted just last year.
Ron Riddle is the lead pastor of Crossroads Cowboy Church’s main campus in El Paso, Arkansas, and the cowboy church director for the USA/Canada Region.
While on a trip in South Dakota, Riddle received a call at 5 a.m. that the tornado had hit the Harrah campus. He immediately drove south to assist, and the damage he found was extensive.
The tornado struck the rodeo arena and the horse stall, lifting and shredding parts of the tin roof. It caused structural damage to the parsonage garage, blew out a few windows, and took some shingles off the roof. It then traveled north and east on the campus and struck the chapel with living quarters attached.
The chapel lost more than half the roof, and the windows were blown out of the living quarters. The structure next to the chapel, a tent area for some of the horses, was destroyed. Last but not least, the vinyl fencing that surrounded the property was destroyed.
The campus’s 29 horses got loose and had to be brought back. All are accounted for.
Riddle considered the campus fortunate as the damage in the surrounding neighborhoods was even worse.
“[The tornado] must have just raised for a time because it could have been a lot worse to the arena than it was,” Riddle said.
With power lines down around the main road, the only way in and out of the surrounding community was through the campus property. So, they opened up the road.
Interim Pastor Mike Meeks sat at the entry gate and talked with over 60 families as they left their damaged homes behind.
“[Meeks] was able to meet every one of them,” Riddle said. “They were very grateful for having access to get out. He was able to determine if they had any needs and see if there was anything we could do for them.”
He also directed them to the Red Cross in Harrah for temporary shelter and assistance during those conversations.
Riddle and the team in Harrah are reviewing next steps with their insurance provider and hope to rebuild and continue their mission of making Christlike disciples.
