After 19 years, Keystone Evangelical Free Church in Paradise is about to undertake its first building project.

To commemorate the occasion, the church held a ground-breaking ceremony last week at the site across from the current facility at 6 Pequea Drive.

Although it was a cold, rainy morning, 200 members of the congregation attended the ceremony that included a special worship service, a few words from guest speakers. Members of the congregation even pitched in to pull a plow through the ground to signify the beginning of the project.

Senior pastor Keith Rohrer said a blueprint of the new building was painted on the ground and church members engaged in a "prayer walk" around the outline.

Rohrer said construction of the 33,000-square-foot facility will begin this month and is expected to be finished in January 2013.

The new facility will include a auditorium that will seat 600 people, education rooms, a fellowship hall and kitchen. Offices and much of the youth ministry, which has been a centerpiece of Keystone's work, will remain at the present church.

S.E. Smoker Inc. of Strasburg is the firm that has been chosen to design and build the church, which is expected to cost $3.7 million.

So far, more than $1 million has been pledged by the congregation of about 400 people.

Keystone has come a long way since its humble beginnings when members met in a bar at a banquet facility, Rohrer said. Two years later, a congregation of about 110 people took over the building formerly home to Paradise Baptist Church.

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Paradise church breaks ground on new project

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --

A year has come and gone since the deadly tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa, but scars of the storms destruction are still visible.

Central Church of Christ is hoping new construction will help repair their wounds.

The entire church was damaged during the storm, but that didn't keep the congregation from pitching in.

Longtime member Bert English said, The whole twelve months we've still been involved in helping those who are less fortunate that we are. We individually have homes. So many people around us here did not have homes. And so to some degree we're still helping people even now, a year later.

English has been a member of the church for more than fifty-years. Despite being grateful for being able to meet at the Alabama Fire College, he said he's excited to have their building back.

Members of the church are hoping that the first phase, which will go right about here, will be completed within a year.

The new building will be in the same place as the old one. But it doesn't take a pile of bricks to make the place a church.

Campus Minister Trae Durden said, We've actually grown during this time without a building. So we're really looking forward to having a building again. Hopefully all the different aspects of our service to the community, I'm hoping that that will continue even after we have a building.

Some of the services still include helping other tornado victims recover a year later.

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Tuscaloosa church rebuilds after tornado

St. Johns Lutheran Church has received a grant to build a permanent prayer labyrinth and garden, and the church wants it to belong to the community.

"A labyrinth isnt a religious symbol, its a spiritual symbol," said project lead

Shawn McGuire. "There would be no reason to walk in the labyrinth if theres no connection to spirit/self. Whatever ones religion or beliefs, walking the labyrinth clears the mind and gives insight."

The project has been in the planning stages for months but construction will be completed this weekend. It will be made of Tennessee field stone and liriope to outline the paths and half inch brown pea gravel to line the paths.

The labyrinth will include plants mixed into the design, an attached community garden and adjacent meditation area that will make the project not only unique to Jacksonville but the region, according to McGuire.

Other aspects of the project include a "Luther Rose" mural by the meditation area and a prayer for the wall of meditation garden. The only unfinished part may be the fountain. Also a local gardener will be adding more colorful and specialty plants over the next few months.

Volunteers are needed to help with construction, even if by laying just one brick. Show up from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Sunday. The church is at 1950 Silver St.

For more information, call McGuire at (904) 803-4103.

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This labyrinth will be inclusive, church says

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - When a tornado threatened his construction site on April 3, Kevin Drake knew just where to seek sanctuary: inside the unfinished home of Trinity United Methodist Church.

Turns out, the 75,000-square-foot building on West Green Oaks Boulevard near Pioneer Parkway was spared a direct hit, although the site was showered with debris from the twister that hit a nearby nursing home and neighborhood.

With a framework of insulating concrete forms, the church will offer refuge against not only worldly temptations but also howling winds able to withstand the equivalent of a 15-foot two-by-four hitting it at 100 mph, according to testing done by the Wind Science and Engineering Center at Texas Tech University.

"This is one of the safest sites in Arlington," said Drake, construction manager for Fort Worth-based FPI Builders. "I would think it would fare very well" in a tornado.

Projects like Trinity's raise public awareness of tornado-resistant construction techniques and may lead to greater acceptance of them, said Ernst Kiesling, a professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech and executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association.

The 17 tornadoes that hit North Texas that afternoon caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage but took no lives. At the very least, Kiesling said, the outbreak should be a wake-up call for the need for more storm shelters, whether public buildings or reinforced rooms in a home, he said.

Government incentives, like mitigation grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, can also help, but funding is usually scarce.

Tarrant County, for example, received $400,000 in 2010 for homeowners to use on tornado safe rooms, and that money is long gone.

"My bottom line is that the (property owner) is the key person who decides what is going to go in," Kiesling said. "Waiting on the government to create incentives or adopt new standards is an unsure and complicated path that can take a long time.

"It's like wanting to win the lottery without buying a ticket."At Trinity, the new buildings are being constructed with insulating concrete forms, a technology that originated in Europe after World War II and has been slowly catching on in this part of the U.S., said Ann Crocker, the church building committee member who suggested the material.

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Church to double as storm shelter

Pastor Scott Youngblood stands next to the cross that will be hoisted on top of the new United Methodist Church in west Arlington. The building is being described as "tornado-proof," due to considerable reinforcement and extensive use of metal.

By PATRICK M. WALKER

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON -- When a tornado threatened his construction site on April 3, Kevin Drake knew just where to seek sanctuary: inside the unfinished home of Trinity United Methodist Church.

Turns out, the 75,000-square-foot building on West Green Oaks Boulevard near Pioneer Parkway was spared a direct hit, although the site was showered with debris from the twister that hit a nearby nursing home and neighborhood.

With a framework of insulating concrete forms, the church will offer refuge against not only worldly temptations but also howling winds -- able to withstand the equivalent of a 15-foot two-by-four hitting it at 100 mph, according to testing done by the Wind Science and Engineering Center at Texas Tech University.

"This is one of the safest sites in Arlington," said Drake, construction manager for Fort Worth-based FPI Builders. "I would think it would fare very well" in a tornado.

Projects like Trinity's raise public awareness of tornado-resistant construction techniques and may lead to greater acceptance of them, said Ernst Kiesling, a professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech and executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association.

The 17 tornadoes that hit North Texas that afternoon caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage but took no lives. At the very least, Kiesling said, the outbreak should be a wake-up call for the need for more storm shelters, whether public buildings or reinforced rooms in a home, he said.

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Sturdy Arlington church doubles as storm shelter

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Solar panels are not often talked about as an expression of religious conviction.

But as the debate over climate change heats up, the panels are going up at houses of worship across the country, regardless of denomination. Such renewable energy is seen as an expression of conservation, or of what religious leaders call environmental stewardship or earth ministry.

In Shaker Heights, a huge $500,000 high-tech solar array is under construction at the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland. Believed to be the largest church solar system in Ohio, the array will form a canopy over part of the parking lot at the back of the church.

The 380 panels have a generating capacity of more than 91,000 watts - enough to supply the yearly power needs of about 10 homes.

Installer Rob Martens said the system is also large enough to take care of about 80 percent of the church's annual power consumption. It will be tied into the Illuminating Co.'s distribution operation, and electricity will flow into the utility's lines when its output is not needed in the church, said Martens, who owns Bold Alternatives, a local solar company.

First Unitarian is paying nothing for the project, the Rev. Daniel Budd said. Nor will the church face monthly payments to buy the array.

Solar Action LLC, a second company of Martens', will own the system for 10 to 15 years. At that point, Martens will have it appraised and either donate or sell the system to the church.

For now, Solar Action will sell the power to the church at a price 2 cents per kilowatt-hour below whatever the Illuminating Co. is charging, Martens said. Those monthly power payments, plus a 30 percent federal tax credit that would not have been available to the church, will pay for the system, he said.

Martens expects to sell the solar credits associated with the power generated by the array to any utility that has not been able to buy or generate power with renewable technology. An Ohio law requires power companies to generate green power, buy green power or buy credits in place of the power.

Church administrator Doug Aubin said about $12,000 a year is spent on electricity for the 88,000-square-foot church - and that's after converting the lightning to compact fluorescent bulbs and more efficient linear or tubular fluorescent bulbs over the last six years.

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First Unitarian Church of Cleveland installs high-tech solar array

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - A northeast Ohio church hopes the construction of a $1.3 million parish hall will help revive the declining neighborhood where 2 of its parishioners were killed in separate crimes.

The Vindicator newspaper (http://bit.ly/BYvtc ) reports the bishop and the mayor were on hand Tuesday as St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church in Youngstown broke ground for the project. The church became a focus of crime-fighting issues after two killings.

In 2010, a 75-year-old man was killed as he and his wife left the church. The suspect has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing in the killing, which prosecutors describe as a case of mistaken identity.

Months earlier, an 80-year-old parishioner had been killed in the church parking lot in a suspected robbery. The trial for that suspect has been delayed.

Information from: The Vindicator, http://www.vindy.com

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Ohio church hopes $1.3M project helps revive area

A Macon-based planning group said Wednesday that two long-discussed transportation projects -- the widening of Forest Hill Road and the extension of Sardis Church Road in south Bibb County -- should begin in the next year.

The measures are part of the Macon Area Transportation Studys next transportation improvement plan, which may get formally adopted next week by the groups Policy Committee. Wednesday, the groups Technical Coordinating Committee backed the plan with no criticism. Meanwhile, the groups Citizens Advisory Committee rejected the plan Tuesday night over concerns with the size of an Interstate 75/Interstate 16 interchange, the scale of Forest Hill Road projects, and the delay of bike lanes and sidewalks on other roads, committee Chairman Dan Fischer said.

The groups Policy Committee actually makes the decisions, while the two other committee votes are recommendations.

Bids for a three-lane section of Forest Hill Road could be awarded in August, officials said. That construction project affects an area between Wimbish Road and Northside Drive. Widening of a southern stretch of Forest Hill Road, from two lanes to four between Wimbish Road and Vineville Avenue, is now scheduled for fiscal 2016, which starts in the summer of 2015. Construction money for the southern stretch of Forest Hill Road hadnt been identified before.

Separately, construction of the long-discussed Sardis Church Road extension, which will connect to Avondale Mill Road and ultimately to Ga. 247, is expected to begin in the next year. Officials said rights-of-way largely have been bought. Construction of the $29.5 million Sardis Church Road interchange on Interstate 75 is expected to be completed next month.

But other projects are getting bumped down on the planning list because of a lack of funds. Construction of sidewalks on Riverside Drive, expected to begin in the next year, has been bumped back another two years as officials look for $450,000. Pierce Avenue bike lanes, a $562,000 project, face similar delays.

Fischer told The Telegraph that the Citizens Advisory Committee didnt see the sense in delaying inexpensive quality-of-life projects like sidewalks and bike lanes while giving the thumbs-up to programs that are overdesigned, expensive and potentially damaging, such as the interstates interchange and the Forest Hill Road widenings.

The transportation plan also calls for Macon Transit Authority, which has replaced most of its bus fleet, to defer bus buys in the next year. But Macon Transit would buy an additional seven buses in the three years after that, according to the plan.

The Policy Committee will consider the plan at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Bibb County Engineering Annex, 760 Third St.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.

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Transportation plan moves up Forest Hill, Sardis Church roads construction

MARION -- A historical marker in front of the Old Marion Baptist Church notes that the area is the geographic center of Georgia.

On Sunday, the church itself was the center of attention in Twiggs County, with about 500 people filling the newly constructed building for a dedication service.

The new church replaces the former building on the same site, which was destroyed April 5, 2007, in a fire that took place just days before Easter Sunday.

The fire was believed to have been electrical in nature, though an official ruling was never made, said Twiggs County Fire Chief and EMA Director Sammy Stokes. Without a nearby hydrant or sufficient water supply, firefighters could only watch as the church burned, leaving only brick and ash. The church was completely engulfed, destroying historical records, photos and other items in addition to the building itself.

Church officials broke ground in January 2011 for the new building.

God giveth, and God taketh away, church mother Mary Sampson said during the dedication service. We lost everything we had. But (the community) gave us money and they gave us love. We want to thank yall for helping us. ... God has blessed us with a new building. Thank God everybody has come out and help us celebrate.

The service started with a processional from the churchs auxiliary building across the street, which has been a temporary home to the congregation. The Rev. Hillmon Graves, the churchs pastor, led those marching in the hymn Weve Come This Far By Faith.

Graves noted before the service that it took awhile for the church membership to come together on a single vision as to what the new church should be.

The biggest struggle was getting all of the hearts and minds to be of the same accord, he said. We had to focus on a single vision. We all came together. This church has many members, but were one body.

Freddie Riggins Jr. served as the project manager for the church. He said the new church cost about $825,000 to build.

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Congregation celebrates opening, dedication of new church

Gospel Light Baptist Church in Walkertown has run afoul of government authorities because it hasn't built the required sidewalks on roads bordering its property in an area where there are no adjacent sidewalks.

The church has been told since 2010 that it must build the sidewalks, but the church has balked because the sidewalks won't go anywhere. The town hasn't yet built sidewalks in that area surrounding the church.

Church officials say they will comply with a town ordinance and will build the sidewalks, and Town Manager Scott Snow said the town likely will accept the church's plans.

"The town doesn't have any intention of imposing the fines unless there is further noncompliance," Snow said.

In a letter dated April 10, the City-County Inspections Division said the church was violating the town's ordinance requiring it to build sidewalks by April 1 on Walkertown-Guthrie and Gospel Light Church roads, bordering the church. The letter said the division could fine the church $100 a day beginning 10 days after the church received the letter.

Church officials also could be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable with a fine up to $500 and 30 days in jail, the letter says.

The Rev. Bobby Roberson, the pastor of Gospel Light, asked the town's planning board at recent meeting why the church was required to build the sidewalks because no church member walks to the church.

Sidewalks are required for the project under the town's unified development ordinance, which guides land use and development within Walkertown.

The council approved the ordinance's provision for sidewalks in 2007 to encourage walking, improve safety and reduce traffic, Snow said. Sidewalks are being built in the Robin's Walk housing subdivision near the church in southeastern Walkertown.

Kevin Winemiller, a longtime church member, said the town's ordinance requiring the church to build the sidewalks is unnecessary.

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Gospel Light Baptist Church in tussle with Walkertown over building sidewalks