Sanctuary of Assembly at Warner Robins complete

WARNER ROBINS -- Just more than two years ago, The Assembly at Warner Robins began a building expansion program.

At the time, it was one among a number of area churches large and small building new buildings or expanding old ones.

On Aug. 23, the congregation moved in for services in its new sanctuary, completing the second phase of a $5.8 million project.

They will have a dedication service and open house Oct. 25 with a special invitation to the community.

“I have to admit, the atmosphere here was fairly electric,” said Mark Merrill, lead pastor at the church. “In spite of the big storm that morning, we had 1,100 people here and 18 people accepted Christ. There was a true sense of excitement and thankfulness about what God has allowed us to do and a hopefulness for what’s to come. We didn’t build this to build a building. We did it to help make a difference in people’s lives. Our vision is to reach every person who’s without hope in Middle Georgia.”

Phase 1 of the project began with adding a new wing to the fellowship’s children’s ministry building with more classrooms and an indoor playground.

The building is also home to the church’s Loving Care Learning Center.

Phase 1 continued with building a dedicated 15,000-square-foot youth building with a large lobby with gaming and café areas. It has a multipurpose room with a stage and is able to seat 425. There’s also a commercial kitchen and an outdoor platform to facilitate outside events.

Completed August 2014, the church then went to three services on Sundays while shifting meetings to the youth auditorium so work could begin on Phase 2 in the main building.

“We added to the front of our existing building, expanding the lobby and giving the outside a new face,” Merrill said. “From 600 seats we expanded the sanctuary to 1,300 using a theater-style seating. We upgraded all our technology, created secure nursery self-check-in with touch-screen points and added a new office wing as well. There’s an expanded café area, too, with an outdoor patio with seating. It’s nice.”

In total, Merrill said the church added about 36,000 square feet making its facility around 83,000 square feet.

“But you know, in the midst of all this and all the hard work, there’s something that’s maybe even more exciting,” Merrill said. “In the midst of our fundraising efforts for the building we made support for missions a part and raised $300,000 to give in addition to our normal $250,000 annual budget. That’s a real blessing for us to do that.”

Merrill said the money raised is going to things like humanitarian efforts in Eastern Europe, construction of an entire Bible college in Tanzania, construction of new churches in the Amazon basin in Brazil, missions efforts in the Middle East and support of facility improvements at the Assembly of God’s Georgia youth camp.

“I’d really be remiss if I didn’t brag on our church and all the support people have given to this,” Merrill said. “Their belief in the vision, prayerfulness, financial support and volunteerism has been fantastic. This project has so very little to do with me and so much to do with them and God’s faithfulness. The glory goes first to God then to our people.

“I tell you -- this has been amazing but it’s absolutely not something I’d want to do in this economy without feeling certain God was in it. There have been so many challenges but look, here we are.”

Merrill said the church has returned to a single Sunday service after having three each Sunday while meeting in the youth building and having had two while in the former sanctuary.

He said that’s a relief.

But he said the crowd there for the move-in-Sunday service filled the new sanctuary to 73 percent capacity. He said the crowd probably was larger than usual due to the excitement, but after the first of the year, if the church sees it needs to go back to a second service, it will consider it.

“Growth was the reason for doing all this,” he said. “That combined with the hope of doing a better job of reaching and serving our community. We definitely needed the extra space and built it to use it, not just to look at.”

Contact Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.

Address: 6040 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins

Phone: 478-953-0320

Leadership: Mark Merrill, lead pastor

Worship: Sunday worship 8:30 and 10:45 a.m., Sunday evening services 6 p.m., Wednesday service 7 p.m.

Website: www.theassemblywr.org

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Sanctuary of Assembly at Warner Robins complete ."