Greg Locke, outspoken lead pastor of Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC) in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, shared on social media Monday (Jan. 15) that the tent the church uses as its gathering space suffered heavy damage from a winter storm that dropped an entire season’s worth of snow in one day.
GVBC’s tent seats 3,000 people and hosts visitors from across the nation each week.
According to NWS Nashville, the snow accumulation since Monday was 7.6″. For perspective, NWS Nashville reported that Nashville’s normal annual snowfall accumulation is 4.7″.
In Locke’s video, the pastor showed how the weight of the snow caused the roof of GVBC’s tent to collapse, ripping parts of the tent.
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“I want to let you guys know that the tent has withstood a grave amount of damage,” Locke said. “I’m super grateful for Christ’s servants rolling up their sleeves and getting here in the snow” to help move equipment out of the tent to a safe location. “But with all the snow accumulation and the wind and more snow to come,” he added, “the tent is just not able to handle the weight of it.”
Locke also showed how the weight of the snow had damaged the HVAC system installed on the tent’s roof.
“All of our framing is being bent from the inside,” Locke added. “The whole tent is just beginning to implode—it’s buckling, buckling from the outside in.”
The damage to the tent is so great that Locke said the church is looking for a different location to hold Sunday and Wednesday worship services until the tent can be repaired. “We got to figure out what the Lord’s gonna do, but it definitely won’t be under the tent. The integrity of the structure is is worthless,” he explained.
GVBC’s pastor asked for prayer. He added that looking at the tent’s damage is “disheartening, but it’s just a setback.” Locke shared that “so many times, prophetically, setbacks are divine setups.”
Locke said that insurance will only cover damage to equipment inside the tent and not the tent itself, estimating the damages will cost GVBC around $150,000, which is an “astronomical amount of money.”
 in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, shared on social media Monday (Jan. 15) that the tent the church uses as its gathering space suffered heavy damage from a winter storm that dropped an entire season's worth of snow in one day. ){kind=link}