Rinehart Christian Church dedicates new building

Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Congregation members of the Rinehart Christian Church stand in the church's new multi-purpose building during the beginning of the building dedication ceremony held Sunday. Current and former members came from as far away as Texas to celebrate the opening of the 21,500-square-foot facility and remodeling of the rest of the church that began last April.

Current and past congregationists from Vernon County, the state of Missouri and as far away as Texas gathered at the Rinehart Christian Church in northern part of the county to celebrate the completion and dedication of a new multi-purpose building.

In fact, so many people showed up for the event that the church set a new attendance record during the morning service. According to Gary Johnson, 256 people were in the morning service.

The multi purpose building and remodeling project began a year ago with the initiation of a fundraising drive and dirt work on the site. All of the dirt work was done by church members with their own machinery, and all of the funds for the $800,000 project is being raised by the congregation. The construction took a year and the fundraising portion of the project is a three-year effort.

The new building features two levels, a single, large multi-purpose room, several smaller meeting rooms, storage areas and classrooms. The rest of the church was remodeled as well. The church acted as the general contractor on the new construction and hired local contractors to build the structure. The congregation did all the remodeling work on the existing church, according to project manager Nathan Forkner, who said people in the congregation put in "thousands" of hours of work on the project.

Forkner said the new building added 21,500 square feet of space to the church and that the church's members have pledged 50 percent of the money needed, with 40 percent of the price of the project already in hand.

Congregation members were pleased with the project. Arch Forkner thought the building was "beautiful." Darren Wiley was happy with the new facility and Misti Raney, part of the Praise Team, said the new building was a great addition to the church.

The formal dedication began at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, with a prayer and some music followed by a retrospective by Everett Forkner who "was raised from birth in the church." Forkner gave a bit of history about the church mentioning the several building projects over the years. His remarks highlighted the "people and heritage" of Rinehart and that a church is more than a building. He said Rinehart is "a church of faith and vision."

Dave Schafer read briefly from scripture, and Johnson introduced keynote speaker and former congregation member Gary Reed of Miami, Okla. Reed compared the dedication of the building to the dedication of the Solomon's Temple. Reed mentioned how all parts of the temple were connected, just like all of Rinehart is connected to the new addition, and how later churches in Europe and the new world became the center of community. A "church is not a building but the people," he said. "This building will enable us to do more in our community."

Reed closed by quoting three sentences from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and paralleling the sacrifices the men made on that battlefield with the sacrifices the congregation's forerunners had made to ensure the church had a firm foundation and would remain as hallowed ground. The entire congregation joined Steve Long in reading the act of dedication. Everyone was invited to stay for cookies and lemonade or take a tour of the new building or the remodeled portion of the church.

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