Despite troubling times for King of Kings Lutheran Church, with their pastor Luther Wright battling liver cancer, the church is moving forward with a planned expansion.
Property trustee Jim Foss said the church has been planning to expand its 1715 S. Lapeer location for years, but put it off after Wright became ill.
“Our original sanctuary was built in the 1970s…that’s now used as our nursery, classroom space, storage, everything. In 1988 we made an addition for the sanctuary, and our congregation has grown,” said Foss.
The congregation now totals about 210 for Sunday service attendance, with the church offering an early contemporary service and a later traditional one. Foss said the church currently has virtually no classroom space.
“There’s no other room for anything,” he said. “It’s been a real challenge for us.”
Abuilding program was instituted, and the church was able to raise pledges for an expansion in the amount of $527,821 of an original $642,596 goal. The money was to be collected over a three-year period, with that three years coming to an end this November.
“Classrooms are our big need,” Foss said.
The church, a current 8,000 square feet, will nearly double its size, adding an additional 7,500 square feet with the expansion.
“It’s $1.6 million total for construction costs,” Foss said. “We’ll add 11 classrooms, a nursery, bathrooms, kitchen and storage.”
Besides the pledge money, the church also has a loan through the Mission Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to be paid back over 20 years, to complete the project.
The church’s architect is Stephen Auger, based in Lake Orion. The church was in the process of getting site plan approval from Orion Township a year ago when Wright learned he had cancer in July 2002.
“(Site plan approval) was a struggle, but supposedly that’s behind us,” Foss said. “(Wright finding out he had cancer) set us back for a little while, because the financial institution said ‘You’d better wait.'”
Wright is still battling his cancer and is on an experimental treatment plan through the Mayo Clinic, according to Foss. In the meantime, the church has brought in an interim pastor, Fred Overdier.
“(Wright) hopes at some time to get a transplant,” Foss said.
“I think many churches would have fallen apart…Luther is such a vibrant, energetic man,” said Cindy Thompson, president of the board at King of Kings. “So the emotional blow of his illness had such an impact on the congregation.
“It could have resulted in the church falling apart, but it did just the opposite,” she said.
“We lost our pastor temporarily, but through that time the interest in the building continued,” Foss said. “We’re on schedule with our pledges. That’s a tribute to this congregation and their dedication to this project.”
“It’s not only dedication to the project, but dedication to Pastor Wright,” said Thompson. “The sense of not wanting to let him down.”
Construction on the expansion should begin in early June, after final approval is obtained from the congregation. The project should take about eight months to complete.
Thompson said in 1995 the church received approval to put up a construction trailer, which has served as additional classroom space.
“We were going to build,” she said. “No one can wait until we get rid of that. The community is growing so, and we think it’s important to grow with the community.