On Sunday, March 20th at 9:00 a.m., the sanctuary of the 1st Baptist Church will be filled with songs, prayers, and scriptures from the members of Christian Life Church. You read that right. For the first time since 1926 (with the exception of that odd Covid time), the members of CLC will gather for Sunday worship not at 115 West Grand, but 212 North Main.Why, you may ask? For several years, CLC’s members prayed and dreamed about building a new facility (for more information on the 205 Thunderbird Road property, visit tonkawaclc.com) that would serve the church’s ministry for the long haul, just as the West Grand properties had, but due to wear and tear could no longer. One dramatic step taken towards this end in 2019 was to move all church activities out of the larger church building and into the Fellowship Hall in order to raise their funding more quickly. This step was only possible because of the benevolence of the 1st National Bank in allowing CLC to use their facilities for classrooms.Another dramatic step was taken when the church decided to, though knowing the likelihood of finding a buyer for 21,000sq ft of a building nearly 100 years old was small, listed the properties for sale. In what CLC elder Joe Kreger called “an act of God ‘’, a buyer was found. This miracle however, left CLC without a space while their new building is being constructed and that’s where the incredible generosity of the First Baptist Church steps in.In March of 2021, almost a year to the day before CLC actually moves into FBC, one of CLC’s elders, Josh Reese, met with FBC’s pastor, Terry Ballard, with an unusual request, asking Terry about the possibility of the churches sharing a space in the event building actually sold. Terry was immediately enthusiastic about the idea and took it before FBC’s deacons and then members for approval which was met with an enthusiastic “Yes.” Now, in March of 2022, that unusual request from Josh to Terry comes to life, as CLC will meet for worship from 9:00-10:30 in the sanctuary while the baptists are in their classes, and then flip-flop at 10:45 as FBC goes to worship and CLC goes to class. The members of CLC can’t say enough about the kindness they’ve received from the members of FBC. It is a true act of christian charity and ...
