Sneak Peek Inside Church

Probably the third time I'm writing on this subject, the new Presbyterian Church being built on Longboat Key, and probably not the last time either. It's a work in progress, but progress is occurring and I had my camera at the ready.

Today we filled three busloads of parishioners and traveled from our current location in an office building to have a before Easter sneak peek inside. The building is not done, of course, but so many members are snow-birds, and will leave after Easter Sunday, so now was the best time to show people where their money and their prayers were going.

Perhaps a little history is in order - I mentioned the office building, which is the current location of our congregation, which broke off from a non-denominational church located perhaps a quarter-mile from where our new building is rising on two acres of land. The office building has been our home for the better part of three years, and before that was a smaller facility rented from the town. The church was growing from the initial twenty or so families, and they knew they'd need to find a bigger place to worship. So they sought out land, and planned their own church building upon it. That land was purchased outright with the cash contribution of about half a dozen families, and the church itself is being self financed over a five year period from pledges and investment securities issued by a corporation created to issue debt. In essence, the church members buying the debt will be paying themselves a four percent dividend over the period their dollars ($25,000 minimum investment) are in use. This is an island of very smart people, who've found a way to avoid giving mortgage banks a profit, and putting their money into the hands of the Lord to do his work.

The church will seat 279 in the sanctuary, have 144 seats in the fellowship hall, and 10 in the kitchen, so the Fire Marshall is giving us an occupancy load of 433 people. This past several weeks, we've had approximately 250 in services, but of course Easter is coming and that brings Presbyterians back to church in large numbers - they are called C&E worshipers (Christmas & Easter), but they do tend to plump the offering dish. At the high point of the church, the tower over the chancel (where the pastor stands) is 41.6 feet, and the first floor has 15,000 square feet. There is a second floor, where the sound booth is located, as well as other rooms, and adds another 2,000 square feet.

Ultimately, a building on the adjacent lot which was part of the original 2.6 million dollar purchase price for the four lots (one improved, three vacant) will become church offices and a second floor 3 bedroom parsonage. It will be repainted to match the new church and will have a replacement roof of hurricane resistant cement tiles, and the new church will be able to withstand winds in excess of 140 MPH. It will be one of the safest buildings on the island. And that's only fitting, to find shelter in a storm in the house of the Lord.

In 2005, I was forced to leave the island due to the threat of Hurricane Charley. I stayed on the island through Hurricanes Frances, Jean, and Ivan. Next big storm, I'm going to church.