NEW MINDEN, Ill. – It was an unseasonably warm Sunday back in November, 2013. A church service had just ended at St. John's Lutheran in New Minden.
Pastor Tim Mueller has watched this church grow since 1988. He had just arrived in neighboring Addieville for lunch when phones started ringing.
"My neighbor called and I couldn't hear very well what she said." Mueller explained. "But something about the sky. We can see the sky in our living room. And something about the steeple. And you better come home."
A powerful twister ripped through the church and surrounding area.
St. John's Lutheran Church tornado damage:
In the cemetery just north of the church, about 200 tombstones were mowed down. The tornado toppled the church steeple and 15 feet of the west wall below the gable. Now, more than a year later, the church is still rebuilding, but those 27 inch thick walls have withstood three tornadoes since they were erected in the 1860's. The damage is approaching $1,000,000.
The New Minden tornado was about 200 yards wide. This meant it not only hit the church, but also four private homes. The peak winds with this tornado were about 166 miles per hour.
"All of a sudden I heard the TV say the tornado is on the ground in New Minden. Take cover immediately," a resident said. Some headed for cover.
One resident told Newschannel Five's Garry Seith it was over in less than a minute. All that was left was a few standing walls.
One woman said, "When I came up the stairs, the first thing I saw is that, 'Trust The Lord."
Everything else had been ripped from the wall. The twister completely leveled a home and killed two people before taking aim on New Minden. But numerous witnesses in New Minden say that in the last seconds the tornado took a turn to the north. That meant the twister spared the main town of New Minden and who knows how many lives.
Some 73 tornadoes broke out across Illinois on November 17, the fourth largest outbreak in state history.
