First Baptist Church in Elgin will host a weekend celebration to dedicate its new church Friday-Sunday, Nov. 10-12. The celebration will end with a dedication worship service at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday. Pastor Lee Boleyn welcomes the public to celebrate this milestone in the congregation’s history.  Chris DeBack photo

FBC to dedicate new building this weekend

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

First Baptist Church in Elgin will host a weekend celebration ending with the dedication of its new church at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 12 during Sunday worship. 

“It has been quite a journey to get to this point,” said Pastor Lee Boleyn. “We are excited and looking forward to the celebration and dedication of this new church building, so that we can move on and use this building for the Kingdom of God.”

The weekend celebration will begin with a Living Stone Reunion service from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, at the church. 

“Living Stone was a ministry we had here quite some time ago,” Boleyn explained. “At that time we would get together all the high school youth from the area, and not just [Valley youth], but Postville, West Union, and the other surrounding towns. We had some of our young guys, including our associate pastor at the time, Shane Rothlisberger, organize it. It was on Saturday nights and included contemporary music, a faith message, and was followed by pizza. 

“It was kind of out of Living Stone that the vision for building and relocating began to percolate and ferment, so we thought in honor of that, we will start the dedication weekend with a reunion,” he added.

Boleyn noted that some of the former members of Living Stone, including Cody Cline, Michael Easton, Mitch Nims, and others, would be returning to make up the band that will be playing that evening. Keeping with past tradition, pizza will be provided following the event.   

From 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., on Saturday, the church will host an open house of its new building. Area residents will have the chance to tour the new 15,000-square-foot worship home of the First Baptist Church congregation. Light refreshments will be served during the event. 

The weekend celebration will come to a close with a dedication worship ceremony on Sunday, followed by a free dinner for those in attendance. The dinner will include pork loin slices, cheesy potatoes, green beans with bacon bits, and dinner rolls. Salads and desserts will be provided by families from the congregation. 

The building sits on the land of the former GridWorks company. The land was purchased in 2010 at an auction for $70,000. With thousands of volunteer hours put into the construction of the building, the congregation still has a little money left to raise in order to pay for its new home. 

The public is invited to celebrate this new chapter in the church’s 138-year history Friday through Sunday, Nov. 10-12.