Joe's Voice - We Built This Place

My partner, Martha, and I have been going to this church for many years. We have seen many changes which strengthen the memories of our time here. This is my spiritual home and will always be my home.

I was a part of the construction of two church buildings. The first building was located on Grant Avenue and Paseo Largavista. I can still remember hanging all of the doors to the class rooms and the front doors of the building. We encouraged the kids to participate by buying bricks at $1.00 a piece so they would feel like part of the construction.

I was also a part of the construction of our current sanctuary. We hired a construction supervisor, but most of the construction work was done by the people of this church. We surveyed the people to find out what abilities they had and created a building plan. Most of us worked on Saturdays and/or Mondays. We built the stained glass windows in my driveway. When I sit in the sanctuary, I can still see us building them. The memories are very vivid in my mind.

My family’s fondest memory of this place was the Christmas Eve before the Sanctuary was completed. At midnight we walked into the Sanctuary from the Fellowship Hall by candlelight singing Joy to the World. I find it difficult to express how I feel when I look at this building. I’m grateful that I could be a part of its construction.

Most of my life in this church has been spent singing and building. I hope to go on singing for a long time, but I'll leave the building to someone else.