The Rev. Sha’Leda Mirra spent her day on May 16 delivering gifts to first responders and doing community service at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Ocala.
Mirra, the church’s pastor for the last two years and a licensed clinical social worker, remembers turning off all of the lights and going to her home in Lake City.
As she prepared to sleep that Saturday night, she quickly found herself in a nightmare.
“One of my church members who lives across the road actually called and said, ‘The church is on fire,’” Mirra said. “‘The church is on fire.’”
The church, which has been around for 134 years and has 97 members, suffered extreme damage to its assembly hall because of what authorities ruled was an accidental electrical fire.
But the fire wasn’t the church’s only challenge: Days later, racial slurs and demonic images were found across the education wing and on its outside marquee.
The Ocala Police Department launched an investigation into the apparent hate crime but has so far not identified any suspects.
In a statement released publicly in the aftermath, Mirra wrote: “This is a difficult moment for our congregation and the broader community we serve. SPC is a pillar in the Tucker Hill and greater Ocala community as a place of worship, fellowship and outreach in Ocala. Even in this moment, we remain committed to continuing that mission even in the face of this trial.”
Nearly five months later, the pastor said the congregation is working to reconstruct the church building. It has undergone multiple inspections and Mirra said she and church leaders continue to meet with contractors in hopes of a rebuilding by September 2027.
“We’re trying to find the right team to come out, and we hope to be solidifying that in the next couple of weeks, and actually get started on the rebuild process,” Mirra said recently.
Carol Crosky, a church trustee who works on the marquee, was the first member to discover the vandalism. She said she came to the building to get something and noticed a wheelchair was misplaced. She then noticed something else that moved around that day.
“I went in that room for something, and I saw all the letters scattered everywhere on the floor,” Crosky said. “I went to look at the marquee and they wrote their message, and I told the pastor, ‘We have been vandalized.’”
The congregation responded the only way it knew how, Mirra said.
“We want to make sure that we continue to dispense the grace, mercy and forgiveness that God calls us to,” she said.
It took two months for 10:30 a.m. service to resume every Sunday.
Emmie Pearson, another trustee and a member of the church’s finance committee, said she was in dismay when she saw the church – eight blocks from her home – engulfed in flames.
“I saw all the fire trucks and I was like, this couldn’t be happening,” Pearson said of the fateful night. “I can’t believe this.”
Pearson said she hopes that the contractors will make the building what it once was: A place for everyone to come and worship.
“I hope that they will enhance the beauty of this building and, most of all, that they pray with us that it will turn out just fine,” Pearson said.
Church members said the support from the community and law enforcement was special.
“I’ve never experienced such a communal outpouring of love: the calls, the messages, the support, the encouragement,” Mirra said. “We still have law enforcement officers who call, and I have one who specifically calls me every week.”
Mirra’s husband, Christopher Mirra, called it a breath of fresh air that people still care about a community that is small.
“The outpouring of support from other communities and all over the United States shows that there are still people out there that care,” he said.
Pastor Mirra said her faith assures her that she and the church will keep moving forward.
“We’re going to keep on growing,” she said. “We’re going to keep on serving. We’re going to keep on believing because we realize that God is with us.”