The congregation of Lynn Valley Baptist Church will celebrate the completion of its new church building with a dedication service Saturday at 2 p.m. The first worship service in the new building will be Sunday when Sunday School will be held at 10 a.m. followed by morning worship at 11 a.m.
“It has been a great undertaking, but our people have worked hard to make it happen. The Lord has blessed, and during the past year we have added 40 new members,” said Pastor Dennis Wilson.
About 35 percent of the old church was destroyed in a fire in October 2015, when the furnace located in the basement under the auditorium malfunctioned, causing the fire. “The old church was built in the 1960s and we had been saying for about the past five years that we needed a new church and had just kept putting it off. The Lord decided it was time we do something,” said the pastor.
Ground was broken for the new church Jan. 21, 2017, and one year later, the building is ready to be occupied. “We never missed a service, as we moved our worship services to our Christian Life Center, located behind the church. On a Saturday we had some men from the church drive to Georgia to pick up 250 chairs. They went and came in one day, and waiting to unload the chairs and put them in place for the Sunday service were 60 to 80 members. I’m thankful we had a place to meet until we could build a new church,” said the pastor.
Built at a cost of $1.9 million by GRC of Kingsport, the new church includes an auditorium, which will seat 400 people. It also includes an education wing, which includes four classrooms and an overflow room, which will accommodate 80 people. The auditorium also includes a balcony and choir loft and choir room.
“Everything is now connected, including our old educational building and Christian Life Center. We don’t have to go outside to go to any of these buildings,” Wilson said.
“Our church members have been great during this whole process. John Allen, one of our members, did all the excavation work, saving the church lots of money. Terry Leonard, another church member, has been our building supervisor and has been there every day. He has been my good right hand,” said Wilson.
“Last Sunday when I preached I read scripture from Nehemiah 4:6: ‘The people had a mind to work.’ Our folks have had a mind to work and they have sacrificed much to see the building come to fruition,” said the pastor.
He noted that three times a year the church has a praise offering, which is dedicated wholly to the building fund. “Each family brings their offering to the altar and there we pray over it and consecrate it to the Lord,” shared the pastor.
The church has 400 plus members and averages 250 to 260 at Sunday morning worship. In addition, the church has an active youth ministry directed by Rick Wagner. Other staff members include Larry Adams, music minister; Linda Childress, church secretary; and just recently the church named an associate pastor, Matt Ward. Jon Byrd serves as chairman of the deacons.
Pastor Wilson said the church hopes to begin the Awana program this summer for the children and restart its clothing closet in April. Joy Heaton heads up the clothes closet, which will be open the first Saturday of each month. “This has been a wonderful ministry for our church,” Wilson added.
Wilson has served the church as pastor on two different occasions for a total of 18 years. “The people at Lynn Valley are wonderful people. We have new people coming in all the time. During my ministry at the church I have seen 50 to 60 families die. I, too, am on the backend of ministry and I see as my mission to get the church ready for the future. We have a working church, a loving church. God has certainly blessed my ministry at Lynn Valley,” the pastor shared.
The first Sunday in the church will be highlighted by a baptismal service. “We plan to baptize three,” Pastor Wilson said. One of those three will be the pastor’s grandson.
“It will be a great day in the Lord,” Wilson declared.