Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

People are excited about the move, says Brett Crump of New Palestine Bible Church.

NEW PALESTINE Evan Eckert remembers hearing, years ago, about a church being started in New Palestine.

He was attending a larger church in Indianapolis, and New Palestine Bible Church was a church plant, a new church forming that the larger church was helping to establish.

Eight years ago, a new job in Shelbyville brought him and his wife, Courtney, back to Indiana from Ohio. As they settled into a new home, they became part of that New Palestine church.

We had actually prayed for that church before they really got started, Evan Eckert said. It was neat to see what had happened and actually be part of it.

Now the Eckerts get to see another new chapter unfold for the congregation. New Palestine Bible Church will move into a different worship space, having expanded and renovated a building the church owns at 5954 W. County Road 300S. It plans to celebrate its first service there at 10 a.m. Feb. 6.

Im looking forward to everybody being in one building together, Courtney Eckert said. When a church has people coming and going to two services on Sunday morning, as has been the case at the churchs current service location at 27 W. Main St. in downtown New Palestine, You maybe dont get to know them as well, because youre going to different services, she said.

Itll bring everybody back together.

The plan is to have one Sunday morning service in the new location, a building that has tripled in square footage thanks to an expansion and renovation carried out in 2021.

The renovated and expanded building includes a new 300-seat auditorium. The previous sanctuary has become a narthex with a coffee station. The structure also contains a small fragrance-free room off the sanctuary for people with sensitivities, a north hallway of meeting rooms and classrooms, and a fenced outdoor playground. Some of the classrooms have foldable walls for flexibility, offering one large room or two or three smaller ones.

Work on the building is down to the last few tasks, such as installing sound panels on stage, or placing an interior door knob or signage here or there, as the Feb. 6 service approaches.

People are excited, said senior pastor Brett Crump, yet he said the congregations enthusiasm is tempered and not overly focused on a building. Weve been worshiping the Lord. The church is us. This he stands in the narthex and motions to the space around him is a tool.

The building on County Road 300S was once the site of New Faith Community Church, which broke ground on the structure in 2008 and built it with help from the Carpenters for Christ organization. Years later, in 2012, New Faith merged with New Palestine Bible Church. The building later became the home of Waters Edge Baptist Church, but that church also became part of New Palestine Bible Church, joining with it in 2015.

For the last several years, the 300S building has been a ministry center for New Palestine Bible Church, used during Vacation Bible School, for example. But the eventual goal was to expand the building and move the congregation there.

That goal was bolstered by a $500,000 grant from the John C. Lasko Foundation Trust and by a large bequest from a church member.

It moved forward again in late May 2021 pushed back from 2020 because of COVID-19 when the Mississippi Nail Benders came. They drove in at the 300S site hauling tools, a stove, and washer, dryer and shower trailers. The ministry helps churches build their buildings. It arranged five weeks of free labor in New Palestine by tradespeople and church youth groups from around the country, each volunteering for a week at the site.

The volunteers framed the building, hung drywall and more; buildings are typically 70% done when the Nail Benders leave. Crump estimates the Nail Benders saved the church $350,000 to $450,000 in labor.

Volunteerism will carry the church on the home stretch to opening the building, too, when boys in the Trail Life troop sponsored by the church will have a lock-in the Friday before opening. Part of their time spending the night will include some final touchup chores.

The 2,200-square-feet building on Main Street is charming and peaceful, Courtney Eckert said. Yet it was in a tight space, the Eckerts said, with no room for expansion and the need to rely on the kindness of school officials for parking at nearby New Palestine High School.

Ill really miss it, but its not about the building, she said.

Evan Eckert is looking forward to his Sunday School class of fourth- through sixth-graders having more room to spread out at the new location and welcome more children.

Its going to allow us to better minister to the community, he said, and thats the reason it was built.

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A place to grow: New Palestine church prepares move to expanded, renovated building - Greenfield Daily Reporter

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