First Church has a great history of being used by God to minister in the
Allentown area. Built during the Great Depression, the Allentown
Campus has ministered faithfully the neighboring community over the
years.
In January 2005,
Pastor Stark announced the plan for our church to relocate to a new
facility on a larger piece of land that would enable our church to
continue growing and reach more people.
We are on the
threshold of that vision becoming a reality. On February 26, 2006
we began our Capital Stewardship Campaign called "God's Challenge...Our
Choice." This was the first phase of our
relocation project in which we were attempting
to purchase 8-10 acres of land upon which to
build our new facility.
In February of 2006 we
hired The
McKnight Group to begin preliminary designs of our future
facility. The perspective drawing at the right gives us a visual
representation of what the completed facility may look like.
Our preliminary floor
plan will be discussed and revised over the next few years as we
continue to grow and develop new ministries. A final set of
drawings will be produced as we draw closer to the building of our new
facility.
On May 25, 2007, we purchase 16 acres of land on
the corner of Orefield Road and Cedar Crest Boulevard. On
September 21, 2007, we sold two 3-acre lots helping to pay down the
mortgage and leaving us approximately 10 acres for our future building.
God's plan for First Church, however, included
more than just a relocation project. After years of prayer and
many hours of discussion, God began to reveal another step in His plan
for our church.
We began to sense that God wanted us to become a
multi-site church (one church that meets in many locations). On
September 16, 2007, we launched our New Vision Campus at the Ramada Inn
in Whitehall, PA.
The vision for the next 20 years is to develop
many campuses throughout the Lehigh Valley. As the next major
steps of the vision unfold, our story will continue...
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