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Small congregation works to overcome recent arson at Lake Lindsey United Methodist Church

 
The fire damaged items that were already set up for a wedding in the fellowship hall that day. The wedding was delayed a few hours and moved down the road to Eden Baptist Church.
The fire damaged items that were already set up for a wedding in the fellowship hall that day. The wedding was delayed a few hours and moved down the road to Eden Baptist Church.
Published July 10, 2015

BROOKSVILLE — Ron and Bennie Pearson were on their way to the Sunday morning worship service at Lake Lindsey United Methodist Church last month when they saw emergency vehicles parked outside.

"We saw the fire truck and the ambulance, and the first thing that came into our heads was that somebody had been injured," said Ron Pearson, who heads the administrative board and serves as chairman of the board of trustees at the church. "It never entered our minds that it was a fire."

The blaze was out by the time the Pearsons and other members of the small congregation arrived for the 11 a.m. service. But Pearson knew right away that the fire had been deliberately set.

"We immediately knew it was arson," Pearson said, "because we were told it was in both of the buildings, and they aren't connected."

According to a report from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, deputies and Hernando County Fire Rescue were dispatched to the church at 22400 Lake Lindsey Road at about 10:15 a.m. June 14. Multiple fires had been set within the two buildings, the report stated.

"It was also discovered that a wedding had been scheduled for later in the afternoon and a portion of the church, the gathering hall, had been pre-set with table settings and wedding decorations," said the report.

Investigators from the Sheriff's Office, the state Fire Marshal's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives quickly developed a "person of interest" in the arson.

Church member David Willmott Jr., 24, was arrested and charged with arson the following day after admitting to sheriff's Detective Royce Leggett that he started the fires.

"No clear motive could be determined," according to a later report. "Willmott provided specific details regarding the crime scene, verifying the credibility of his confession."

Other than during his 20 years in the Air Force, Pearson, now 63, has always attended the Lake Lindsey church. He recalls making paper airplanes out of the bulletin as a boy and being active in the Methodist Youth Fellowship program as a teen.

He was saddened to think that the fire was deliberately set by a church member. There is a lot of "unrest and uneasiness" in the congregation, he said.

"We were all pretty much devastated to think that anybody would do that to any church, but especially a small country church where everybody knows everybody," Pearson said, noting that the church has only about 20 people each Sunday.

Rhonda Lillie, who will be 65 this month, also grew up in the church and taught Children's Church in the hall that was severely damaged by the fire.

"My heart was broken," Lillie said. "This is my church. This is God's house."

"It's just a neat little church," said Kelley Looper, 72, whose mother played the piano there for more than 50 years.

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Looper, who sings with the Gulf Ridge Quartet, also attended the church as a youth, until he joined the Navy in 1960, and later attended his wife's church.

He remembers when the sanctuary was full each Sunday. His grandmother lived in the village next to the church in those days.

"It was just normal back then. No air conditioning. We mostly had fans, and in the winter it was always open."

Looper chuckled as he culled a particular memory.

"I can remember crawling under the old wooden pews and sticking my head up. My grandma or somebody would grab me — me and my buddies."

Looper and his wife, Faye, had planned to attend the wedding at the church that afternoon. Looper's cousin, Laura, who had also attended the church as a child, was to be the bride.

According to a written history of the church, Methodist preaching began in the area in private homes at least as early as 1851.

"Later, organized services were held in a vacant building on Mayo's Hill," says the report. "In 1874 Reverend John R. Mays, a local elder, began holding revival services. For several years it served as a place of worship for both Methodists and Baptists and as a public school for the community."

In 1886, what was called "the new church" was built about 2 ½ miles away.

"In 1928 Mr. Fred Nelson donated property on the lake, and the church building was moved to its present location," the document continues. "Nine small buildings were erected during the 1940s and used for Sunday school rooms until the present social hall was completed in 1965, and the classrooms were completed in 1981."

Pearson said insurance through the United Methodist Church conference covered the fire damage, and repairs are already under way. The congregation hopes to be back in the sanctuary within weeks. The repairs on the fellowship hall are expected to take several months.

The community north of Brooksville has stepped up to help. Eden Baptist Church, just down the road, offered the use of its church so that the wedding and reception could still be held that day — a few hours later than scheduled. Lake Lindsey's sister church, New Hope United Methodist Church in Istachatta, has hosted the congregation at its Sunday morning service since the fire, even preparing breakfast for the members.

Lillie said she is praying that the congregation will be able to move past this tragedy.

"We're very small, and there aren't many of us," she said. "Hopefully, the ones we had will come back and we'll get some new people maybe. I'm just praying the church is going to survive it."

Looper and his wife always go back to the church for the homecoming events to recall old times. He hopes that will continue.

"We had so many good times out there," said Looper. "It was just a joy growing up there. Looking back, it was just good."