craigdailypress.com

Between two Sunday services at The Journey at First Baptist, lead pastor Len Browning stood outside with a gold shovel in his hand, thanking God before breaking ground on a $2 million expansion project for the church.

"This is a great privilege we have, to continue to do what we do and love the people in our community," Browning said.

The addition will add 14,000-square-feet to an already 9,000-square-foot space.

The main focus will be a new 500-seat sanctuary.

Browning said the church maxed out its old sanctuary and currently is running two services to accommodate the steadily growing congregation.

The old sanctuary will be transformed into a youth center, and several new classrooms will be built in the basement of the addition.

Browning said the congregation pledged a third of the funding for the project. The other two thirds were raised by selling bonds.

"Almost everyone here contributed in some way," he said. "They are really excited about it."

Browning anticipates the project to be completed in April 2010.

"It's exciting and scary at the same time," he said. "It's like if you're remodeling your house, you just know there are going to be a lot of little problems along the way, so I'm not really looking forward to that part."

But, Browning said he appreciates the progress The Journey at First Baptist has made and the continuing support of the community.

"This church started in a log home, then moved to a railroad car, then moved into the building that's now the Sunrise school," he said. "And we built this building in 1974. It's amazing to see the progress of buildings that reflect who we are and what we do."

One service the Journey offers is called Celebrate Recovery.

"We call it a safe place for hurts, habits and hangouts," Browning said.

Celebrate Recovery is not just for substance abusers. It's a safe haven for those dealing with divorce, financial issues and "learning to get through life itself," Browning said.

He said the program has a dozen recovering methamphetamines addicts, and a few of them have been clean for five years.

About a third of the growth of the church has been related to the Celebrate Recovery program.

"It's just a safe place to unpack your baggage," he said.

The new addition will allow ample meeting space for the group.

There also will be more space for administrative offices, so pastors no longer will have to share offices or confine themselves in closet-sized spaces.

Jason Fast, business development director for Mishler Construction, the contractor for the project, said he enjoys coming to ground-breaking ceremonies.

"I love seeing all of the faces of the ministry as the work progresses," Fast said. "And when the ministry moves into that new building, well, that's when the real work begins."

Mishler Construction, employed by architectural firm Building God's Way for the Journey project, specializes in churches, hospitals and clinics.

"We like projects like these because it affects a lot of lives," he said. "It's not like a big warehouse that's just going to have a lot of stuff in it. People will be coming every Sunday, and life-changing things are happening."

Nicole Inglis can be reached at 875-1793, or ninglis@craigdailypress.com.