It sounds like an idea for a new TV reality program. Two Anderson congregations are making an unusual move, perhaps the first of its kind among South Carolina Baptists: They are “trading spaces.”
Covenant Baptist Church, off Highway 28, was looking to expand. The congregation began in a storefront in 1997 and now has a growing membership that averages more than 500 in worship attendance and currently holds two services.
Northside Baptist Church, just off I-85 on Liberty Highway, had the opposite situation. Begun in 1988, the current congregation of about 100 people faced a financial burden of paying for a larger facility than it now needed.
When a building committee team at Covenant noticed that an architect’s plan for their new facility was similar to Northside’s building, they decided to visit Northside to be sure that the proposed plan would meet all of their needs. It was then that the idea was hatched by a seemingly innocent remark by a member: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could just trade?”
“The idea kind of came out of nowhere,” chuckled Dow Welsh, pastor of Northside, who now affirms, “The Lord did it!”
“It is a real blessing for both churches,” agreed Covenant’s pastor Steve Silvey. “They needed relief. With fewer people, their building had become a financial drain. We needed space fast, and we came out better than if we had built. It was a win-win.”
From a business standpoint, the deal doesn’t make sense – swapping a 54,000-square-foot building and 30 acres for a 15,000-square-foot one on only seven acres. “But in terms of God’s best for each of us,” it does, Welsh said.
“At first, we both just laughed about the possibility,” Welsh recalled. “Getting 15 to 20 leaders of two churches on the same page is hard enough. Try getting a crowd of 600 or 700 Baptists in two churches to agree. That’s pretty phenomenal.”
But after overwhelming approval by both congregations in December and a month of working out the legal details, the two pastors swapped keys and both congregations held their first services at their new locations Feb. 25. As a part of the transition, Northside will also change its name to GraceView.
“We’re taking as little as possible, only what we need to continue our ministries,” Silvey said. Personal items, books, computers, office equipment, pictures and donated furnishings were moved, but the chairs, tables, desks and sound systems remained behind. Part of the reason for this arrangement is pragmatism, since one has a Christian school with about 200 kids and the other has a day care and after-school program.
“Both of these ministries will be allowed to continue serving where they are,” Welsh noted. “There have been huge amounts of cooperation on the part of both churches, and quite honestly the switch has been fairly smooth.”
That’s the real story, the pastors both agree: two churches looking out for the best interests of each other and seeking God’s best for each.
“The move really showed the body of Christ working together in a kingdom mindset to accomplish a goal for both churches that brings honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Sid Stewart of Northside, who is director of Haven of Rest Ministries.
“This was never just a real estate deal; it was more of a ‘God deal’ than anything else,” said Tom Herbster of Covenant. “For both churches, it was something we needed and God provided at the right time.”