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New Facility Is Answer To Church's Prayers

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By JENNIFER HOWELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: August 9, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - With the night skyline of downtown Tampa serving as the sanctuary's backdrop, the North Pointe Church held its first service at its new Land O' Lakes location Aug. 3.

The large photograph doubles as a mission statement for North Pointe, whose leaders say the space at the junction of State Roads 54 and 56 will further allow the church to shine a light throughout the Tampa area, to bring people to Jesus Christ and to serve the community it calls home.

North Pointe, a Baptist church with about 200 attendees, moved from Wharton High School on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa, where it had held Sunday services since its inception more than four years ago. Church leaders had been looking for a permanent location that would give North Pointe daily accessibility, but had come up empty.

"We had looked before, and whether it was part financial reasons or part geographical relevance, what we found was not anything we could manage ourselves," said lead pastor Bill Craig.

It turned out to be a search of a different kind that led them to the site.

"We found the new space during a time when I and some of the other leaders in the church were fasting and praying," Craig said. "We were asking, 'What's next for the church? What can we do better to connect people with God and with each other?'"

Led To The 'Optimal Location'

During this period earlier in the summer, executive pastor Steve Wells came across an advertisement for the space while reading the newspaper. The advertised facility hit home because it is the exact area he and other members had mapped out as a dream location a year and a half ago.

"It was a clear answer to prayer," Wells said. "What we did as a team in a planning meeting a year and a half ago was ask, 'If the church could be anywhere, where would it be?' And we circled the corridor of 54 and 56. It's where the most growth is happening. It's the optimal location. This is how I know it's an answer to prayer - it's in an area where there had been nothing available or affordable."

The church is leasing the 5,000-square-foot facility and accompanying 1,300-square-foot house on the property for three years with a promise that it can extend the lease as long as it wants. The building is owned by John Narcisi, who owns and operates JN Electric in the other half of the warehouse that houses the church.

Craig says God opened up the space to allow the church to move, and stresses the move signifies an opportunity, not just to serve the church's members, but to reach out to people in the community and have them feel the love of Jesus Christ.

"We're not looking to benefit from it," said Craig, a Wesley Chapel resident. "The community is going to benefit from it."

Church Became A Project

To get the once-bare warehouse ready for the first service, a group of church leaders and members worked for several weeks, transforming it into a contemporary worship center, complete with stage lighting and two big screens on which the service is projected.

They also chipped in to transform the house to make it ready for the Discovery Zone children's ministry.

"People have gone above and beyond," said Frances Cameli, children's ministry director. "The buzz and spirit on people's faces is so huge."

Cameli said the new facility's extended hours will give the youth praise band and drama team a place to practice. She says there also is the possibility of having a Wednesday night program for the youth. The church's teenage ministry, named Velocity, already has its own service on Sunday nights.

The adult praise band looks to stage more dramatic productions such as "The Gospel According to Floyd," a musical it performed on Easter Sunday this year.

"It will allow us the ability to plan larger productions," said Wells, minister of praise and creative arts at the church. "We'll be able to tap into drama and creative arts much more."

Ideas for how to use the new facility continue to surface, and the opportunities for outreach are great, said Craig, who became pastor of the church a little more than a year ago.

"There is so much potential in having our own space - from offering karate classes to having home school groups," he said. "We'll be able to offer more services and more flexibility."

Craig said the timing of this move points again to God.

"Summer is church planner purgatory," he said. "It's hard for a church to grow in the summer. It made for a great challenge, and it's another instance where God said 'Go ahead and test me. I'm going to make it so apparent that I'm the one who did this and not you.'"

NORTH POINTE CHURCH

WHERE: 2427 Old Cypress Creek Road, Land O' Lakes

SUNDAY SERVICES: 10:30 a.m.

WEB SITE: www.thenpc.org

Keyword: North Pointe for an audio slideshow on the church's first service at its new Pasco County location. Keyword: North Pointe for an audio slideshow on the church's first service at its new Pasco County location.

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