Friday night was a homecoming that almost didn't happen for the Bethany Baptist Church. The church youth group barely escaped a fire earlier that morning.
They were on a mission trip in Nashville, TN. They were asleep when someone started yelling.
"A voice in the room said, 'A fire in the kitchen - get out,'" said Jill Bates.
The voice belonged to Jeremy Newell.
"I heard a crackling, like a fire, and it kept on getting louder," said Newell.
He ran screaming for people to get out. Thirty-five members of his church, most of the teens were sound asleep.
"I think in another minute or two if I had not woken up, we'd probably been at the hospital or worse," said Newell.
The teens said at first they thought it was a joke, but then they saw the smoke and they ran outside.
Newell said the church building they were staying in is old and he didn't think it had working smoke detectors or sprinklers.
Everyone was able to escape the burning building with no injuries.
"We were all in the parking lot huddled together," said one teen.
The youth group spent the past week helping the homeless in Nashville and said they look at the fire as a message.
"God just showed us how the homeless people felt while we were there helping, by having the First Baptist Church of Nashville help us," said Pearson.
They said they have a new respect for Jeremy Newell.
"He did save our lives," said Pearson
"Just Thankful the Lord woke me up," said Newell.
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corp.), all rights reserved.
