Former Charleston pastor dealing with chaos in California

A pastor with ties to West Virginia is helping a community cope with the aftermath of two tragedies that have made national headlines.

Pastor Shawn Thornton used to serve as pastor at Bible Center Church in Charleston from 1997 through 2008 before moving west to California.

The last few days remind him of the Book of Job, which involved one devastation on top of another.

Members of his congregation at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California, have lost their homes to the raging wildfires.

"I think our list is up to about 10 families that have lost their homes," Thornton said.

The church sits just about a 10-minute drive from the Borderline Bar and Grille where 12 people were shot and killed Wednesday night, including Noel Sparks, who worked with the youth at Thornton's church.

"She was just beautiful and sweet," he said. "She cared about God and sharing his love with others. Her life was taken so quickly."

The pastor is sharing what he's calling a message of hope in the ashes of despair.

One of the families at his church lost everything, except for a coffee mug found face up in the rubble that says "Trust the Lord with all your heart."

"It's the only thing that survived the intense heat of the fire," Thornton said, "so I think that mug is a message not only to that family, but to all of us who've gone through these difficult days together as a community. We've got to trust God, even when it isn't easy. That's what faith is about."

The pastor says they had to cancel this past weekend's services.

He says they have several memorials scheduled soon for victims who died in last week's shooting.

Thornton says fire got close to his own neighborhood, but it was put out before it got to the houses there.

Thornton studied at Appalachian Bible College in the Beckley area before teaching there.