Home
Indiana Church to Celebrate Life Center Expansion
LAFAYETTE, IN (February 27, 2001) - The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) of Lafayette next month will celebrate the addition of a 7,000-square-foot Life Center expansion to one of two buildings on the church campus.
The addition to the existing 10,000-square-foot facility will include a 185-seat auditorium and a small canteen area for a growing youth program. National Covenant Properties participated in financing of the project.
The $650,000 addition is dedicated in memory of Jeremy Doyle, a high school student who died in an automobile accident in 1998. The building already has a gymnasium and classrooms. The second building on campus includes a 500-seat sanctuary.
"The impact on the community was surprisingly large," said pastor John Martz of the death of Doyle, a two-sport athlete and a devout Christian. "There were families across the community who saw this as a huge wake-up call. The number of people who have come to Christ and the number of unchurched families who came to our church . . . has shown us that God has used a horrible tragedy to do some great good."
Two different youth groups meet at the Life Center. A middle school group averages 50 and the high school group averages 60 in attendance. The gym is often used by the community and the church hopes to add a soccer field and baseball/softball backstop to its 18-acre plot of land.
The Lafayette church was founded in 1870. Martz has seen much growth in the past 14 years he has been the senior pastor. The church has grown from an average attendance of 185 during Martz's first year to approximately 1,000 in the congregation today. The Lafayette church recently sponsored a church in West Lafayette. Martz credits the positive changes in the church to insightful and open-minded lay leadership and a solid core of staff ministers.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
