Car crashes into South Brunswick church, ‘narrowly’ misses pastor

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Thank heavens!

Both a driver and a pastor of a township church escaped unscathed after a car crashed into the church and office building on Wednesday.

The crash through the glass facade happened about 4:30 p.m. at the Life Church on Route 130.

The crash was caused by a driver mistakenly hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake at a nearby daycare, township police said.

Police said one person in the church "narrowly escaped injury."

A guardian angel must have been keeping watch over Pastor Scott Allan Walsh, who said on Facebook that the car "missed me by 5 feet!"

Despite the damage and brush with death, the church remains in good spirits. A post on the church's Facebook page has a picture of the crash with a caption saying, "Just another quiet day at the church."

"We have permanent air conditioning," Walsh added.

Walsh told New Jersey 101.5 on Thursday that he was on the "other side of the wall" where the car went into the building. He said he heard a big bang and ran out to see what had caused the noise.

Walsh said they had people cleaning up and putting up plywood to cover the window.

With just a few days until Christmas, Walsh said they may have to adjust their plans slightly, but otherwise the holiday celebrations will go as scheduled.

Walsh said he believes the building is still structurally sound despite the impact and that there is another entrance to the building, which will allow them to operate relatively normally.

"We'll have fun thinking in the new year about how to redesign it," he said.

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