First reported by Baptist News Global.
The Kentucky River crested at 48.39' on April 7, 2025. Rev. Amanda Smith watched through a security camera as the fellowship hall of First Baptist Church took on eight feet of water.
"This church has a very good sense of at what number water gets into the building," explained Smith, one of First Baptist Church's co-pastors. "Friday, even before we had the numbers, we knew we needed to come down here and move things up a level. We disconnected the refrigerators and had a wild day of moving stuff."
It's not the first time the church has stood its ground against floodwater. The building was over a century old when it weathered the city's all-time highest flood of 1978, and the congregation still remembers how it got through it.
"We moved our pews, unscrewed them from the floor, and put them up on metal folding chairs in the sanctuary. That is what they did in 1978 and it worked. We did it again and it worked again."
It took days for the water to recede. Over 500 homes were damaged across Franklin County, and more than 200 water rescues were made.
First Baptist Church sustained $1.2 million dollars worth of damage. The church gathered to worship in Bridgeport, miles away from St. Clair. Community outreach programs housed in the building - a medical clinic and clothes closet - paused activity until summer.
The church applied for aid and was presented with a $200,000 FEMA grant. However, it came with stipulations.
"You had to cooperate with DHS and Homeland Security, providing paperwork," said Smith. "It also had language around DEI."
The terms and conditions of the grant allow DHS access to facilities receiving federal award money. Recipients are also forbidden from operating any program that benefits undocumented people or promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion.
First Baptist Church is part of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. Co-pastor Rev. Justin Sizemore says the language against diversity, equity, and inclusion would threaten the church’s commitment to serve its community.
"We are a church welcome to all people," said Sizemore. "We're not asking for your credentials before you come in the door. We're not asking you to check a part of yourself before you come and worship with us. You can come exactly as you are and who God created you to be."
First Baptist turned down the grant. The decision was made by the congregation through a discussion and vote.
"The conversation was: are we risking betraying our neighbors who we love and who we want to feel safe in our community if we take this money?" explained Smith.
The pastors characterized the discussion as mature and thoughtful.
"The overwhelming majority voted not to take the money," said Sizemore. "But even those who voted to take the money really were operating out of a sense of, you know, 'We know our building is used a lot. We know that there are folks in and out of our building all the time, and these are funds that could be used to repair that space.' It wasn't an argument of, 'Well, you believe like this, and I believe like this, and we're opposed.' It was just a conversation on how we find the money when money is not readily available all the time in order to fix our space."
Following the decision, First Baptist has seen an outpouring of support from the surrounding community. The Sunday after Baptist News Global published their story, Frankfort held a community-wide service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"And several people walked up and said, 'We're so proud of you all at First Baptist,"' said Sizemore. "'We saw the article. We're so thankful that you all didn't take the money. And let us know how we can make a gift to go towards your flood repairs. let us know if you have another work day so we can come down and help.'"
Several faith leaders in Frankfort used First Baptist's story in their own sermons that week, including First Christian Church's Rev. Elizabeth King.
"First Baptist Church on St. Clair offers a lived counter-witness to those who dare to call it Christian to demean the marginalized and the foreigner," preached King.
King is a member of the Franklin County Ministerial Association alongside First Baptist's co-pastors. She said, in a time when it's hard to know how to be a church, First Baptist stands as an example.
"They serve for me and for our congregation as a model for wrestling with the things that are hard right now," said King. "It's hard to know: Do we speak out? Do we provide sanctuary? What does it mean to show love? What does it mean to keep peace? Who or what is at stake?"
"What I hope we would learn is that there are faithful ways to move forward, even when it's challenging to figure out what are. While there is risk involved, there are paths that allow us to be faithful and to keep claiming who we are; to keep claiming the people we love and keep seeking to live justly."
First Baptist continues to recover with the support of its community and neighbors. Sizemore says the reason the grant wasn’t larger to begin with was because of people within the church putting in the work themselves.
"We have folks in the congregation who are gifted and skilled in repairs and had already done a lot of this work, which is fantastic," said Sizemore. "We have folks in the congregation who, little by little, as they are able, they're coming in and using their electrician skills and replacing lights, using their skills in putting flooring down and replacing flooring. It's a real communal effort right now."
The requirement to cooperate with DHS for disaster money was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge last fall; however, DHS has not removed the stipulation from the grants.