Northside Baptist to dedicate new church, Sunday, Oct. 25
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the congregation at Northside Baptist Church will have a building dedication service for their recently completed church building. The new building project will allow them to grow in ways that would never have been possible had it not occurred.What makes it even more impressive is the way the church was built, and the volunteers who came in to help speed the process along.
The church has added 6,000 square feet of new space and remodeled its current building.
The majority of the work was done with volunteers. Joining the members of Northside Baptist to help with construction were members from First Baptist Church Kingston, Kingston, Tenn., Hillcrest Baptist Church of Carlisle, Anna First Baptist Church, Anna, Ill., and Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Tenn.
“Churches helping churches is part of the joy of the whole Baptist connection,” said Pastor Todd Hartley. “Many of these people took vacations to come here and help us build. It was humbling and it was a huge blessing to watch this all come together, and the way people joined in to make it happen.”
Hartley said that many of his own church family have worked for the last 4-1/2 months to complete this project, which the other churches got off the ground. Pastor emeritus/founding pastor (and father of Todd) Cliff Hartley served as the project’s general contractor, and together with the church body, they have successfully gone from a 92-seat capacity to 200 in the worship center, added six classrooms, a 22-feet by 55-feet community room and four showers, which will allow the church to house other mission ministries as well as serve as a disaster relief shelter.
“This has been an incredibly meaningful process for us, and a very significant one for us in terms of growth,” said Hartley. “To be able to have our church members take part in the construction of the church is something that will make it even more meaningful.”
For the Oct. 25 celebration, Rev. Jonathan Falwell, senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., will be the guest speaker for the 3 p.m. service. He is the youngest son of the late Dr. Jerry Falwell who was in Millersburg in 1995 for the dedication of a new building.
Dr. Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University will also be there. Dr. Towns has been to Northside on two other occasions hosting church training events and is a friend of the ministry.
“Having Jonathan here kind of brings us full circle,” said Hartley. “Dad was the first pastor to come out of Liberty University (Falwell built the school) to start a church, and Jerry was here when we dedicated this building in the beginning.”
The connection between the Falwell and Hartley families goes beyond dedications. “The Falwells and the Hartleys go back to 1973. Dad was the first pastor to graduate from Liberty and plant a church,” Hartley explained. Cliff, Todd and brother Brett were all trained there and Brett and Todd met their wives at Liberty. Brett and his family have recently relocated to Lynchburg and both he and his wife are on staff with ministries there.
“It seems like we’ve known them forever,” said Todd Hartley of the Falwell family.
Hartley went on to say that he would be remiss if he failed to thank all of the Holmes County businesses who worked and gave of their respective time and talents to help build the new building.
The public is invited to come and see the building and enjoy light refreshments from 1-3 p.m. and then enjoy a the celebration service at 3 p.m.