Thursday, June 28, 2007

Church's renovation of school complete in Billtown

by Sara Peterson-Davis

For those who weren’t there to witness the transformation, it might be hard to believe that the sanctuary at the Williamstown Assembly of God Church was once an elementary school gymnasium.

Pastor Rick Burcham stands next to a stained glass window incorporated into the church's new facility.

Photos by Sara Peterson-Davis

An overview of the Williamstown Assembly of God Church's new sanctuary.

In fact if it wasn’t for the building’s exterior school-style architecture,
it’s difficult to believe from the
inside it was ever anything but
a church.

“You don’t get this picture from the outside,” said Pastor Rick Burcham,
on a recent tour of the 11,000-
square-foot facility. “We’re really
proud of it. We did most of the
work ourselves.”

In mid-May the church moved into
the renovated school building, completing a five-year journey
that took hundreds of volunteer
hours.

The Williamstown Assembly of God congregation offered tours of
their new church at their annual
Freedom Jubilee July 1. Along with
the tours, the celebration featured
a barbeque cook-off, a concert by the
Faris Family, a horseshoe pitching contest and a fireworks display.

“So many people haven’t seen it,” said Burcham. “They went to school here.”

While its old building could comfortably fit 80 worshippers, Burcham said the church had to move its worship services to the Perry-Lecompton High School to accommodate growing membership. At its peak, church membership was about 160. Today, it has settled in at about 130.

Looking for a more permanent situation, the church bought the old Williamstown Elementary School from the Perry-Lecompton School District in 2005. The school leased the building back to the school district for one more year of school. The church used the gymnasium on Sundays and slowly started renovations.

“We were setting up and tearing down for four years,” Burcham said. “We were glad to move in here.”

At the end of the 2005-2006 school year, the church helped the school move out of the facility and renovation began in earnest. The church’s old building was eventually sold and turned into a private residence.

Working mostly with volunteer labor, as well as contractors sympathetic to the small church’s budget, the Williamstown Assembly of God Church started last June by first carving out church offices and a nursery.

Since then nearly every corner of the school has been renovated in some way. Former classrooms have been turned into Sunday school rooms, a fellowship hall and into the Firehouse Café, home of the church’s Rescue 1 Youth Group complete with a firehouse décor, stage, as well as video and audio hookups.

The entire building was rewired, made handicap accessible, a new boiler system was installed and new carpet laid throughout. The work that remains is a drop ceiling in the fellowship hall and renovation of the church’s kitchen.

Burcham estimates that renovating the school cost about a quarter of what it would have cost to build a new church. He credits Associate Pastor Terry Newell with supervising and working with many of the volunteers on the more complex projects.

“We worked a lot of hours,” said Burcham, who spent much of his renovation time painting. “It was my associate pastor’s specialty. I’m not handy.”

The centerpiece of the renovation is the church’s sanctuary, which features an elevated stage, state-of-the-art audio and video system, and seating for 200.

The congregation was able to incorporate one piece of the old church into the new facility. Members saved one stained glass window from the old church and it has been installed on the right side of the sanctuary doors. A custom frame was made for the window and it can be illuminated from the back.

Now that it has a permanent home, Burcham said the church can better focus on its ministry in the community. The church is already home to church-sponsored scouting programs for boys and girls, and has offered financial recovery classes for area residents.

In the future, Burcham said, the church might explore sponsoring recovery and other programs that help people make better lives for themselves.

“We hope we’ve made this an asset to the community,” he said. “We’re open to the community.”