Leesburg Grace Brethren Rising From The Ashes
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
LEESBURG - July 22, 1997, is a date that few of the members of Leesburg Grace Brethren Church will ever forget. In the early morning hours of that day, their church was destroyed by a devastating fire, the work of arson.
Within a couple of weeks Timothy Grevenstuk, a Leesburg teen, was charged with the crime and, a year later, was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In the aftermath of the fire, the small community of Leesburg rallied behind the church. Local churches offered the use of their buildings to the congregation of Grace Brethren. The town council building, the Lions Club building, Leesburg Elementary School and even a local funeral home were offered as meeting sites. The congregation decided on the elementary school and they have met there since the fire.
After the fire, Pastor Jeff Hoffard said: "We are starting from scratch. We can do it God's way and be a church that lives its testimony in the community, or we can just give up now."
But giving up was definitely not in the plans for this congregation. With the trial behind them, they are looking to the future. And that future began with a ground-breaking ceremony. Following their worship services Dec. 5, church members congregated in the rain at the new site.
Finding a place to build the new church proved to be difficult. Property could have been purchased outside town, but the church wanted to stay in Leesburg. A three-acre site was finally found within the city limits, just south of Leesburg Elementary School and west of the elevator on School street. The guiding principle the church has followed through the entire ordeal has been their commitment to the town of Leesburg.
The new building will have approximately the same amount of space as the old church, but it will be all on one level. The site and the new church were designed to be accessible to the community, according to Hoffard.
At times, planning for the new building was a slow process. Plans had to be reworked several times to stay within the budget, but Hoffard believes "that details and the way things worked out were in the Lord's plan."
The machinery will soon move in to start the construction of the new Leesburg Grace Brethren Church. And this church, which through all the trials still remained a congregation, will once again have a church building to call their own. [[In-content Ad]]
LEESBURG - July 22, 1997, is a date that few of the members of Leesburg Grace Brethren Church will ever forget. In the early morning hours of that day, their church was destroyed by a devastating fire, the work of arson.
Within a couple of weeks Timothy Grevenstuk, a Leesburg teen, was charged with the crime and, a year later, was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In the aftermath of the fire, the small community of Leesburg rallied behind the church. Local churches offered the use of their buildings to the congregation of Grace Brethren. The town council building, the Lions Club building, Leesburg Elementary School and even a local funeral home were offered as meeting sites. The congregation decided on the elementary school and they have met there since the fire.
After the fire, Pastor Jeff Hoffard said: "We are starting from scratch. We can do it God's way and be a church that lives its testimony in the community, or we can just give up now."
But giving up was definitely not in the plans for this congregation. With the trial behind them, they are looking to the future. And that future began with a ground-breaking ceremony. Following their worship services Dec. 5, church members congregated in the rain at the new site.
Finding a place to build the new church proved to be difficult. Property could have been purchased outside town, but the church wanted to stay in Leesburg. A three-acre site was finally found within the city limits, just south of Leesburg Elementary School and west of the elevator on School street. The guiding principle the church has followed through the entire ordeal has been their commitment to the town of Leesburg.
The new building will have approximately the same amount of space as the old church, but it will be all on one level. The site and the new church were designed to be accessible to the community, according to Hoffard.
At times, planning for the new building was a slow process. Plans had to be reworked several times to stay within the budget, but Hoffard believes "that details and the way things worked out were in the Lord's plan."
The machinery will soon move in to start the construction of the new Leesburg Grace Brethren Church. And this church, which through all the trials still remained a congregation, will once again have a church building to call their own. [[In-content Ad]]