Monday, February 2, 2026

Altadena Pastor Who Saved His Church While His Home Burned Gets Community Thank-You

Pastor G. LaKeith Kenebrew [photo credit: Hillside Tabernacle City of Faith]

Pastor Kenebrew saved his church while his home burned. Last week, a grateful community thanked him for his sacrifice

Pastor G. LaKeith Kenebrew made seven trips into the Eaton Fire zone on the night of January 7, 2025, fighting to save Hillside Tabernacle City of Faith while his own home burned less than a mile away. On Friday, January 30, his community publicly thanked him for putting their needs first.

Kenebrew lost his home in the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures across Altadena. But the 58-year-old church at 2561 N. Fair Oaks Ave. survived—and became a distribution hub for emergency supplies.

Thirteen months after the fire, Kenebrew’s congregation and community acknowledged his sacrifice at a recognition event, and the church has been rebuilt.

“I thought about my church family,” Kenebrew told KNX News reporter Karen Adams. “I thought about the church members, and I thought about what my wife and I lost, but it was, what can I do to lift my community?”

Kenebrew and his wife, Co-Pastor Jerice Kenebrew, spent the night of the fire driving repeatedly into the inferno despite hurricane-force winds. By morning, their family home—which they shared with their 24-year-old son David—was gone.

“Everything was just red and orange,” Jerice Kenebrew told Capital & Main in an August 2025 interview. “I think the last time we came, the roof was on fire. We saw smoke coming out, and we tried to flag down three different fire trucks. Finally, we just jumped in the middle of the street in front of a fire truck and made them stop.”

Their persistence helped save the structure. The church sustained some damage but remained usable. Hillside Tabernacle became a hub for World Vision giveaways in the weeks after the fire, KNX News reported.

Hillside Tabernacle, a Church of God in Christ congregation, was founded in 1967 in a storefront and moved to its current building—a former post office—in the late 1980s. Jerice Kenebrew’s parents, Frances and Jerry Harris, took over leadership in 1999. The congregation numbers more than 150 members, about 30 of whom lost homes in the fire.

The Eaton Fire was the fifth-deadliest and second-most destructive wildfire in California history. All but one of the 19 victims lived west of Lake Avenue, in the predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods where Hillside Tabernacle is located.

During the recovery, Kenebrew continued serving his scattered congregation through livestreamed services from a rented studio in Duarte, about 12 miles from the church. A new van serves as mobile ministry, collecting and distributing supplies to fire survivors.

“He and his wife both have always been like this,” one churchgoer told KNX News. “They always have been very generous, very helpful, and very encouraging.”

The Kenebrews are now rebuilding their personal home.

“We have been devastated,” Kenebrew said in a June 2025 service, “but God has given grace to us.”