By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — With bright sunshine beaming down and the bitter cold of late nothing but a memory, the congregation of Caribou’s Assembly of God church could not have asked for a more perfect setting Sunday afternoon as they witnessed a 30-year dream come to fruition.
Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox
From left, Angela Searles, Pastor Tony Searles, longtime congregation member Delmar Wilcox, Youth Pastor Rob Butler and Shelly Butler led the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the church’s newly constructed Activity Center on Sunday afternoon.
Members of the church gathered in the back parking lot after services to join their pastor, Tony Searles, as he led the group in prayer and cut a ribbon carefully strung from entryway pillars by church member Tom Hale. Searles then opened the doors to the church’s newly constructed, highly anticipated 7,740-square-foot Activity Center for the first time to the public.
Construction of the center, created as a tool to reach out to the local community, began in the spring of 2011 and has been a steady work in progress ever since. Local contractors were brought in to provide their services, but the majority of the construction was completed by a team of onsite volunteers who worked daily on the project.
The volunteers were part of the Assembly of God’s Retired Volunteers Mission America Placement Service Group, and the Activity Center project was headed by retired pastor and Caribou native Ray Sullivan. The RV group, which consisted of 13 couples from as far away as Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Florida, moved their recreational vehicles onto church grounds and spent two consecutive summers, from May through September, living in their motor homes and working on the facility.
According to Searles, having the volunteer group on hand was an enormous monetary savings for the construction project.
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| Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox Maynard and Phyllis McIntyre, members of the Caribou Assembly of God congregation for several decades, visited the church’s grand opening of their new Activity Center on Sunday. |
“If it wasn’t for them and their ability to serve us in this capacity, we would not have built this building as soon or at the price it was completed,” Searles stated. “We were able to save roughly $450,000 in labor costs alone because of their volunteer effort. We are grateful for all they have done for us.”
With a great room for dinners and receptions, modern kitchen, youth room, seven classrooms, conference room, nursery, offices for the pastor, youth pastor and secretary, the center is one of just a few major building projects in Caribou over the past few years. The interior trim is made from Aroostook County locally grown and sawn hardwoods.
On the afternoon of the grand opening, the brightly decorated great room was just about filled to capacity as a crowd of churchgoers and community members joined the festivities. The guests were treated to a potluck feast featuring a variety of delicious dishes. The facility, which will be utilized for the same purposes as gathering rooms in the church had been, was designed to allow easy access to visitors with special mobility needs, something the older church with its many stairwells and narrow halls was not able to provide.
“It is our goal to use this building to impact our community through our children and youth specifically,” Searles said. “We hope that the Activity Center will facilitate more fellowship with our church and the friends in our community. We will always be looking for other ways to invite people in and learn about the life and love of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Searles and the church board met after the grand opening and they were extremely happy with the turnout and the community’s positive reaction to the building.
“Our hope with this project was that it glorified God,” Searles asserted. “Being able to see this dream fulfilled shows His faithfulness. It’s a legacy for us to leave for the future.”
Major construction was finished in October 2012 and there is still some parking lot and landscaping work to be completed, which the church plans on taking care of this spring.
For more information about the Caribou Assembly of God church, visit their website at caribouag.org. The church may also be found on Facebook
Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox
A large crowd gathered for a community dinner held for the grand opening of the Caribou Assembly of God’s newly constructed Activity Center on Sunday.
