Church pulls together for new building, military support

Dust flew around 60 members of the Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church as they grabbed a rope and pulled an old plow across a plot of land in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain.

Shovels would not do for the late Sunday morning groundbreaking of their new church at 4450 Westmeadow Drive.

We wanted something that could help visualize the fact that God is doing this through all of us together, Senior Pastor Jim Alexander told congregants before guiding the plow in dress shoes and a suit. This is about Gods glory ... walking together in one direction, pulling together in one direction.

After years of bouncing from place to place, meeting in schools and renting and sharing buildings with other congregations, Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian, established in 1996, will have a place to call their own within a year.

The $2.4 million dollar project has been a decade in the making.

The church bought the 6-acre plot of land 10 years ago and paid it off last year. The 140-member congregation raised $230,000 for the land and $440,000 toward the construction of Phase I of the project a 300-seat church.

The congregation now shares a space with other churches at 1615 E. Cheyenne Road. People outside the congregation chipped into help build the church, which will focus on military outreach.

The land is in a residential neighborhood near Highway 115 and Academy Boulevard, minutes away from Fort Carsons main gate. Alexanders goal is to have a large impact on the military community, which has struggled with issues including repeated deployments, suicide and domestic violence.

Alexander appointed retired Air Force Maj. Jim Franks, whom he met in seminary school, as the churchs military outreach coordinator.

Franks said faith got him through a 22-year career that included frequent moves and a deployment to the Philippines.

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Church pulls together for new building, military support