Abiding Harvest plows ground for expansion
Between worship services and Easter egg hunts, Abiding Harvest United Methodist Church in Broken Arrow broke ground March 27 on a building expansion: the Abiding Harvest Multi-Activity Center.
However, there were no gold shovels at the Easter Sunday event. Members of the Building Committee, chaired by Phil Terry, lay hold of an old-fashioned plow, guiding it to turn the earth as the entire congregation pulled together on one long rope.
"It’s a WE thing!" declared Pastor Chris Buskirk. "We pull together in ministry and in making this building, a tool for still more ministry, possible."
The project started with a $750,000 challenge gift from an unnamed donor almost a year ago. The people of the church responded by exceeding the challenge amount, and the total thus far raised in funds and pledges is $1.9 million.
The facility, 13,400 square feet, will house a gymnasium, classrooms, an amphitheater courtyard, a growing youth ministry, and more. It will be a host site for educational partnership with a nearby elementary school, and a distribution station for a community garden now in development.
Abiding Harvest is a small-groups church that emphasizes presence-based worship and vital service to the community. A free hot breakfast is served every Sunday, at 10 a.m., and worship at 10:30 always opens with Communion.
Watch a brief video of the groundbreaking at https://vimeo.com/163862989
PULLING TOGETHER — Building committee leaders, foreground, guide a plow as the people ceremoniously dig into a church expansion project for Abiding Harvest UMC, Broken Arrow.
Photos by Priscilla Huber
Beneath a brightly striped tent at Abiding Harvest UMC, children get a closer look at an old farm plow used for breaking ground on Easter.