Our church was begun in August 2001 by Pastor Terry and Cheri Walters. Having been gifted by God in the areas of preaching and worship, they sensed a call to begin a new church that would provide people with the kind of worship they so deeply desire, but often can't find in the traditional setting.
In the beginning, we focused on worship, fellowship, prayer support, and discipleship. Other ministries have been added since. We agree with the Psalmist who was glad to go to the Lord's house (Ps. 122:1) and we offer a place to celebrate Jesus!
We had our first worship at the pastor's home Aug. 5th, 2001. We had 30 at the first home service and grew to 39 by the following Sunday morning!
We soon began holding our Sunday morning worship at the PlaMor Danceland building on Fairgrounds Rd., with 43 at our first service there - just 4 weeks after moving to town! In November, we started having Wednesday night Bible studies for adults and children at Danceland, with the youth still at the pastor's house. In December, we held our first Bible School on two Saturdays - Christmas style - and set a new Sunday morning attendance record of 60! We continued to meet on Sunday evenings at the pastor's house. Contemporary choruses were led by Pastor Terry and daughter Whitney on vocals, wife Cheri on keyboard and vocals, and Brad Reynolds on guitar and vocals. In October, the Lord provided for the equipment to project words on a large screen to help the crowd praise.
Attendance continued to grow through the winter. The arrival of the spring of 2002 found us averaging over 50 on Sunday mornings and nearly 40 on Wednesday nights, with the youth group having an average of 17 teens! We baptized six and had several more professions of faith. Membership classes are held periodically and several joined our membership. On Easter Sunday morning, over 60 people enjoyed a continental breakfast and 80 attended the worship, setting a new attendance record! We continued to grow through the spring and averaged 63 on Sunday mornings in May, with a Mother's Day record of 81! Sixty-five enjoyed a catered dinner. By then, the youth were averaging 23 on Wednesday nights and reached a high of 30 in May!
During the summer we opted for lots of fellowship, as we had gotten too crowded at the pastor's house on Sunday evenings. Ballgames, bowling, ice cream socials, pool parties, and more, averaged between 50 and 60. Vacations took a small toll on regular attendance, but we still averaged over 50 on Sunday mornings. In July we voted to rent a new facility and worked all of August in order to move into a new building on Hwy 51 S. on Sept. 1.
 
Our own facilities meant buying a sound system, chairs and tables, and some kitchen appliances, and doing lots of work. We cleaned, painted, built a stage and bathrooms, and worked hard to get ready for our first service. Later, we celebrated with an Open House in October, had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas season, and welcomed the New Year, all with some fantastic worship services and activities. We continued to work on the new building throughout the fall and winter, helping the landlord install new central heat and air and framing in a nursery and a youth room.
We had a long, cold winter, but fared well and as spring arrived in 2003 we set a new attendance record with 84 on March 23rd! Then, we topped that with 109 for Easter! Praise the Lord! We enjoyed a summer filled with great worship, Bible studies, and fellowship, with cookouts, ballgames, ice cream socials, and more. During the fall we celebrated 2 years as a church and 1 year in the new building with a cookout and special services. We also added a new laptop and more cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms.
As we entered another new year (2004), we added more greenery and some art on our walls, as well as more walls when we built two new classrooms! New faces and new members have changed our looks too. We enjoyed another full year of worship and activities with several becoming mainstays on the calendar, such as Easter breakfast & Treasure Hunt and Youth Encounter. By 2005 we spiced it up a little with a couple of self produced dinner theaters for Valentine's and Mother's Day and a men's chili cook-off. We also had another great summer V.B.S. and fall carnival. We continue to add new people to our fellowship and activities to our schedule. Lots of volleyball, cookouts, game nights, and going to the DQ on many Sunday evenings after church.
In 2006, besides adding to the Lord's church with several baptisms, we added a worship time for children on Sunday mornings before our regular worship hour and a monthly nursing home service to our schedule. To our equipment, we added wireless mikes and the equipment to digitally video our worship and put the services on DVD. We're currently keeping our eyes open for some good property in Pana on which to build our own facilities. With more room we can better develop our children's and youth ministries, add sunday morning bible classes for all ages, and much more. There is no telling what God will lead us to next, so come make history with us!
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