BARBOURSVILLE Ƶ Mercy Village Church has settled into its new location in the former Davis Creek Elementary School building.
The building, located at 6330 Davis Creek Road, was vacated and transferred to the church by the Cabell County Board of Education in February after the new school was built.
Pastor Paul Boekell said members were able to get the deed to the building in early March when the churchƵs lease at its former location expired. He said they began renovating during spring break, and May 18 was the churchƵs first service.
ƵItƵs been pretty smooth,Ƶ Boekell said of the transition, which he estimated took about eight weeks.
ƵWe have a lot of talented and gifted people in our church with connections to different places in the community, so the church just really came together with a lot of labor, people contributing to the cause, doing work here in the building, generosity and all those things required to just give a facelift to the building.Ƶ
Boekell said the former school building was in Ƶgood shapeƵ when the church moved in, so it hasnƵt needed to invest a lot into the project. Funding for the property, he said, came from individual donors within and outside of the church.
Still, itƵs a commercial building, which he said the church is not used to, and ƵweƵre figuring things out as we go.Ƶ
For example, he said the church is still correcting issues with the HVAC system. The building also has a lower floor thatƵs adjacent to Davis Creek that has flooded in the past.
Boekell said thereƵs been ƵminusculeƵ amounts of water on the lower floor, but Ƶno major issues.Ƶ But he said the church plans to primarily use that space for storage instead of daily operations.
Overall, he said the new building provides a much larger space for the church, which was formerly ƵcrampedƵ within about 6,000 square feet. Now, it occupies roughly 15,000 square feet, including the lower floor.
About half of the building, however, is still vacant, and Boekell said the church hopes to partner with a local organization that could further benefit the community within the space.
ƵWe have talked to a day care. WeƵve talked to a dance studio. ... some people are interested in doing art classes and stuff, but we havenƵt settled on someone to use the other half of the space,Ƶ he said. ƵWhile things have gone well, I think weƵve also realized that thereƵs a lot more to owning a building than we expected. So weƵre getting our feet underneath us and then hoping to secure those partnerships.Ƶ
Right now, he said the church is able to have services every Sunday, and there have been some small events, including a bridal shower, at the location. Now that the church memberƵs have settled, he said theyƵre in Ƶphase twoƵ and hoping to bring in another community organization by fall at the earliest.
Regular church service is every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. for about an hour, and the church has youth ministry. He said itƵs also used throughout the week for ministry-related events like Bible studies.
Boekell said the church also hopes to have a summer camp in the future.
Beyond that, he said the church has spoken to Cabell County Schools about participating in the Summer Feeding Program, which hands out meals to students in the summer months, in the future. He said itƵs also hoping to work with Facing Hunger Foodbank, using its walk-in freezers and refrigerators leftover by the school to store food.
Within the church, one room has been converted into a youth space, with comfortable seating and a popcorn maker that Boekell said the church was hoping would be used for movie nights or other youth events.
The church is also using several of the classrooms for youth ministry, as well as a nursery. While the schoolƵs kitchen supplies were needed by the county, Boekell said the church is attempting to restock it.
The former gymnasium/cafeteria/auditorium has been converted into a sanctuary, which Boekell said heƵs hoping will also be used as a multi-use space for community events like potluck dinners.
ƵWeƵre just really deeply thankful to have this building. We hope that we can be, and we pray that we can be good stewards of it for the sake of the community,Ƶ Boekell said.
