Last week, Midcontinent Baptist Church in the 2200 block of South Emporia burned.

Now the church is bringing back big names that will hopefully have a big impact.

"Just a neighborhood church, corner lot, on street parking," says Pastor Steve Day.

A close-knit membership of only 20 on South Emporia in Wichita.
 
But last week a fire at Midcontinent Baptist Church changed everything.

"They couldn't find a source for the fire there were no shorted out wires or anything," explains Day.

That combined with other clues made church pastor Steve Saunders and members question if the fire was an accident.

"When he saw his office was in disarray and saw the plywood pulled away from the window and stuff thrown around and then the change jar, empty."

A jar full of about $50 worth of change - used for missionary work - now gone.

From the outside it's hard to tell anything even happened here but there's so much damage on the inside, we're told $150,000 worth of smoke, water and fire damage that means this neighborhood church is pretty much destroyed.

So Pastor Steve Saunders turned to an old neighbor and friend - Pastor Steve Day at Friendship Baptist Church.

"He called to see if we had some spare space a room that he could use and we're glad to help him," says Day.

This is Midcontinent's temporary home. 

They worship in a small chapel and hold Sunday school in a small corner of the sanctuary.

"People rally, when you have a tragedy like that people will rally around the cause and take the mindset that if they burn our building down we're gonna meet anyhow."

And rally they did, increasing their membership by more than 25 percent in the past week and a half.

"In fact, they had about 26 which may be more than they've ever had he said they had about 26 people."

And a native Wichitan is lending his famous voice to help Midcontinent Church relocate.

"Smoke gets in my eyes...." sings Pastor Day.

Ironically just one of Frankie Valens' songs.

Vallens and other community groups will sing at an upcoming benefit.

The proceeds from which will go to Midcontinent Baptist Church.

"They're down but they'll get back up," says Day.

The Wichita Fire Department says the fire at Midcontinent Church is still under investigation.

Pastor Steve Day tells us several churches in that neighborhood have been broken into.

The Frankie Valens benefit is February 25th at 7 PM at Pawnee Avenue Church of God.

KINGMAN, Kansas -- An 89-year-old Kingman man, Wallace Gene Fairchild, was found dead late Wednesday afternoon in Harper County after a Silver Alert was issued for him Tuesday.

When Bob Fairchild went to his father Wallace Fairchild’s house Tuesday night, Bob found no trace of his dad or Wally’s 2005 red Ford Ranger- that’s when Bob knew something was not right.

"Hopefully we would find him today, and we did, but the outcome wasn't what the family was wishing for,” said Bob.

A statewide Silver Alert was called off Wednesday afternoon after the family was informed their loved one was found in Harper County at the Danville Cemetery.

"His truck was in the road, I'm assuming out of gas or shut off, he was a few feet from the truck with the keys, deceased, but he did have a real bad aneurism,” said Bob.

With no signs of foul play, Bob’s best guess of how he passed is the aneurism.

On Wednesday, Bob tried to imagine exactly how his father wandered into Harper County.

"In my mind, yesterday, he was coming here for dinner, because he was filled up with gas, got his Red Man (chewing tobacco) and it was snowing, the farther south you got it was snowing harder and he missed his corner,” said Bob.

Wally suffered from dementia and had vision problems in one eye, which is why Bob thinks the snow lead to a wrong turn, leading his father off his usual path through town.

Wally was very well known throughout Kingman.

Family members say about 50 percent of the town helped out in the search for their loved one.

HUTCHINSON, Kansas -- Two men will be tried for the murder of a young Hutchinson mother.

After three days of testimony in the preliminary hearing, a judge determined there is probable cause to send Billy Joe Craig Jr., 48, and Charles Christopher Logsdon, 32, to trial for the murder of Jenny Heckel.

Heckel, 27, was shot and killed in her home last June.  Her 5-year-old son was home at the time but not harmed.

On the third day of testimony in the preliminary hearing, two men testified about serving time in the Ford County Jail with Logsdon, who was jailed on unrelated charges after the murder.

Prosecutors played surveillance tape from inside the jail that they say shows Logsdon demonstrating to other inmates how Heckel was shot in the back of the head after being forced to her knees.

Another witness testified that Logsdon was concerned about a cigarette he left at the crime scene.

Monday, investigators testified that two cigarette butts were found at the scene and collected as evidence in the case.

Earlier in the week a taped confession from Craig was played for the court. On the tape, Craig confesses to driving Logsdon and another man, not charged in this case, to Heckel's home.  He goes on to say Logsdon and that other man went inside and shot Heckel, thinking they were at the hideout of a Hutchinson meth dealer.

Prosecutors say Craig confessed in an attempt to get a plea deal. Craig now claims he had nothing to do with the killing and was at his home, with his daughter, the night of the crime. His ex-wife has also backed up that story, although prosecutors say they have evidence that his daughter was working the night of the murder.

The two men will be officially arraigned on March 5.

GREAT BEND, Kansas -- The man accused of killing a 14-year-old Great Bend girl says his trial should be moved because he can't get a fair trial in Barton County.

Adam Longoria, 37, was in court Wednesday for a motions hearing ahead of his murder trial.

He's accused of murder and sex crimes against Alicia DeBolt. Her burned body was found near Great Bend in August 2010.

During the motions hearing, Longoria's attorney argued for a change of venue, saying that it will be difficult to get a fair trial in Great Bend because of all the media attention.

"The people in Great Bend, in Barton County, are posting about this on Facebook and commenting with their friends and saying, 'He's guilty. We hope he gets what he deserves,'" said Jeff Wicks, defense attorney.

The state argues the media attention is no big deal and that Longoria's trial should stay in Barton County.

"It boils down to they don't like the way we did it because there's been a lot of media attention on it," said Andrew Bauch, prosecuting attorney.

The defense brought in a survey of 401 Barton County residents.  The survey was spearheaded by a Pittsburg State University professor.

"The data showed that over 75 percent of the residents of Barton County believe that the defendant is guilty of the crime he is charged with," said Dr. Shirley Drew, Pittsburg State University.

Also Wednesday, the defense asked for the case against Longoria to be dropped based on the media coverage and the community buzzing about the murder case.

The judge denied that motion, but will wait until Monday to decide on the change of venue request.

Longoria's trial is scheduled to start March 26. He's charged with capital murder in the case, but prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

If Longoria is convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Former Congressman Dennis Moore, who represented Kansas for 12 years in the U.S. House, has announced he has Alzheimer's.

Moore, a Democrat from Kansas' 3rd District, says in a statement that he is in the "early phases of Alzheimer's disease" and that he received the final diagnosis in June 2011. The 66-year-old said he hopes to help "others in the same situation" by making his illness public.

Moore, who did not seek re-election in 2010 after holding the seat since 1998, said he wanted to help draw attention to Alzheimer's and early onset dementia. He and his wife, Stephene, plan to work with a local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

Stephene Moore sought to replace her husband in Congress in 2010, but was defeated by Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Republican.

WICHITA, Kansas -- From Tim McGraw's country twang to the Wichita State Shockers pounding the court, the Intrust Bank Arena hosted an array of entertainment in 2011. It packed its doors with visitors for 99 separate performances.

That, however, wasn't enough to make a profit for Sedgwick County.

County commissioners learned the numbers on Wednesday.

"The numbers are in the black, it's not as well as SMG would've liked, not as well as we would've liked, and we're looking forward to next year," said Bill Buchanan, Sedgwick County Manager.

Buchanan says the "honeymoon period" is over.

The arena took in $389,659 in profit in 2011, compared to $2,000,000 in 2010.

According to the contract established with the county, SMG, the company that manages the arena, will keep all of it.

SMG gets the first $450,000 and the county gets the next $450,000.

"We've come down a bit in 12 we expect to go back up this year. I think it'll be somewhere in between a good solid number," said A.J. Boleski, owner of Intrust Bank Arena.

Something SMG says should be easy because of its solid 2012 concert lineup, including Tom Petty in April and Nickelback in June.

They also plan on appealing to more sports fans.

"Every year we're going to be focused on building more momentum as far as college sports," said Boleski.

Hoping more events like Wichita State will bring a solid profit in years to come. For more information on events, head to http://www.intrustbankarena.com/.

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- Opponents to Gov. Sam Brownback's proposal for cutting Kansas income tax rates say during a Statehouse event that Republican's plan is misguided and would punish working families.

Brownback and his supporters were planning a news conference of their own on Wednesday, touting support for tax cuts.

Both events were held ahead of the first of three planned days of hearings over the proposal by the House Taxation Committee.

The governor proposes to collapse the state's three income tax brackets into two and eliminate a number of credits and exemptions, a move he says makes the Kansas tax system flatter and fairer. He's seeking to end the state's earned income tax credit for low-income residents, saying the money would be invested in other social programs aimed at the working poor.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has endorsed Secretary of State Kris Kobach's proposal to require some potential Kansas voters to prove their U.S. citizenship ahead of this year's presidential election.

The Elections Committee approved a bill to impose the proof-of-citizenship requirement starting June 15 for people registering to vote in Kansas for the first time. The state enacted the rule last year, but it isn't scheduled to take effect until Jan. 1, 2013.

The committee's endorsement of the bill allows a debate in the House. Kobach has said he wants to impose the proof-of-citizenship rule ahead of schedule because voter registration peaks once every four years in the months before a presidential election.

But critics say the bill will hurt voter participation.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A diamond that was dropped into a Salvation Army red kettle in Kansas has sold for more than $6,000.

An unknown out-of-state buyer paid $6,325 Tuesday in an eBay auction. The diamond, which was set in a ring donated by a Kansas City jeweler, drew 86 bids during a weeklong auction.

It has a cut that is no longer used and is thought to have been cut more than 100 years ago.

The Salvation Army in Kansas City, Kan., said the proceeds would be used in Wyandotte County.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.