Officials are still investigating what caused a fire around 2 AM on Monday leaving a century old church in New Iberia destroyed.

“Well one of the neighbor across the street knocked on my door a little after two this morning, to let me know the church was on fire. When I walked outside I could see it engulfed in flames and by that time it was pretty well consumed. Of        course you can always rebuild, but you cannot recapture that history.”” said Pastor Shawn Watson.

Pastor Watson, said the church had held service the night before the fire. He said afterwards, he and several members closed up and left, everything seemed fine to be fine. Many members of the church have been attending Little Zorah their entire lives.

“When I heard about the baptist church I tried it out and my whole life changed. I used to drink every weekend and I cut that out. Your down but you’ve always got to keep the hope up. There’s always a way.” said long time member Arthur       Batiste

Although the church lost everything in the fire, one thing they say that wasn’t lost is their hope.

“The church and the community is really appreciative of all the support that we’ve gotten and we just ask that they continue to pray for us as we move forward.” said Pastor Watson.

Officials did fine combustible material near the back of the church, but the source of the fire remains unknown.

After the investigation is completed Pastor Watson plans to rebuild a new church in the same spot.