Stasney and Jacobs say the building is just the first phase in what they see as a growing project.
“If we grow the way we expect that we will grow … in three to five years, we will be overcrowded,” Jacobs said. “We are excited about it.”
[Ugandan Bishop Dunstan] Bukenya, who Stasney said traveled 8,000 miles to bless the church, was pleased with the project.
“I want to thank Father Jon (Stasney) and his team for producing that wonderful facility,” he said. “When a church is built, it is meant to nurture people … I hope it will be a center for growth here in the city.”
Though Stasney was excited about the new building, inhabiting it has come with a price — a non-monetary one.
In the two years it took to raise the money and construct the facility, Stasney said his congregation has been embraced by, and cooperated often with, the Midland church community.
“When we were ‘on the streets’ with nowhere to go, we were taken in immediately by Mid-Cities Church,” he said. “They gave us office space.
“Midland Classical Academy offered us space to worship (and) St. Stephen’s offered us space and loaned us two wooden crosses, a small altar and wooden pew chairs.”
Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity become the church’s homes for weddings, funerals and other church functions, he said, while other churches such as True-Lite Christian Fellowship, First Methodist and First Presbyterian also offered support and supplies.
Donations have come in from across the state and beyond, he said, with sizable donations coming in from as far away as Virginia.
“We’ve been very well supported,” he said. “It’s been a time of work and fellowship.”
Note also the parochial data of the Christ Church Midland Episcopal parish here.