Dancing on the Rubble

On May 22, 2011, a mile-wide tornado carved through Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and leveling entire neighborhoods in minutes. Among the wreckage stood what remained of St. Mary's Catholic Church — walls sheared off, pews scattered across parking lots, the sanctuary open to the sky. The following Sunday, pastor Justin Monaghan did something no one expected. He set up folding chairs in the debris field where the altar had been and held worship anyway.…