Crossing the River Longenbaugh
Though we longed to build on our own property, it would be several years before we were financially able to do so. In the mean time, we took out a loan and purchased the building where we met from Wheatstone community. In just 5 short years, God had given us the money to pay off that loan. Not long after that, we heard a word from God to “rise up and build” across the street. So we sold our building and met in a school for the next year. We used the funds from the sale as a down payment on a construction loan.
We broke ground in May, 2000, and started a three year capital stewardship campaign to raise the remaining funds we would need to build. Many of our members were directly involved in some part of the construction process and it was exciting to watch the building progress over the next 11 months. We held our first meeting in our new building on Easter Sunday, 2001, and had a building dedication in May. It was an quite a year for Christ Covenant!
Sending Out, Promoting From Within
Not long after we moved into the building, our senior pastor, Pete Sanchez Jr., began to feel a call from the Lord to move out into a new ministry. It was a difficult decision for both Pete and the church, since he had served Christ Covenant for over 12 years, but we all felt it was God’s will. Brother Pete left to be a director and teacher for Integrity Worship Institute in mid-2002. The elders formed a transition team and began to pray earnestly for our next leader. After much prayer and spiritual struggle, Dennis Jamison, one of the original trustees and a church elder, decided to leave his full time job in the workplace and answer the call to pastor the church.
As you can imagine, this was a giant step of faith for Dennis that was fully endorsed by our former pastor, the board of elders, and the church body. Although Dennis had not had many opportunities to preach, he took on the role of senior pastor willingly and with all diligence. Our church has benefited greatly from his strong leadership, his encouraging style of preaching, and his strong pastoral gift. Many in the church not only call Dennis their pastor, but also their friend. We are blessed to have him as our leader.