Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 3A
Church Restoration continued from 1A
MAJOR RENOVATION
A complete renovation project had to be done on the
old church. Photo by Jessica Brown
“I said, ‘Well, I am a fun
damentalist. I believe in the
inspiration of the Bible and
that Jesus is the Son of God,”
Adair said.
The doctor said he and his
wife had been praying about
the situation and had decided
to give the church building to
the Loganville congregation’s
non-profit Sanctuary Church
Ministries. He asked Adair to
use funds for the purchase
instead for the renovation.
Though Adair gladly accept
ed the offer, it would take
some time to work through
the trauma of his accident.
A LEAKY SHIP
“The first time it rained,
Linda said, ‘Why don’t we go
see where the roof is leaking
and set out buckets?”’ Adair
recalls.
“I said, ‘I’m mad at God. I
don’t want to see the thing,”’
Adair responded.
After checking out the
leaks for herself, his wife
came home and reported there
“weren’t enough buckets in
Winder to catch it all.”
Prodded by a letter from
the city demanding that the
building either be fixed or torn
down, Adair put aside his hurt
and determined to get busy.
But he soon found that no
insurance company would
insure the building due to its
condition and no bank would
loan money for the renovation
without an insurance policy
in place.
At the suggestion of a bank
employee, the Adairs took out
a line of credit on their per
sonal residence.
“They said take the equity
out of your house,” Adair said.
“We did and we put a new
roof on the church and took
care of some structural things.
One bell tower had to be com
pletely taken off. We rebuilt
the roof and the cupola.”
While the exterior work was
under way, Vickie Fussell, the
wife of a local painter, began
attending the congregation’s
services. She and her husband,
Edgar, would prove crucial to
the project.
“He came and gave us a bid
for two weeks of work and
wound up staying five or six
weeks and charged us for only
two,” Adair said. “He did the
outside and began to pay his
crews to work on the church
one day a week. He was a
godsend.”
When the pool of renovation
money ran out, the Fussells
then obtained a second mort
gage on their home so that
the exterior work could be
finished.
FINALLY COMES
TOGETHER
The interior renovations also
have been extensive, Adair
said. In addition to replacing
electrical wiring, plumbing,
walls and floors, Adair decid
ed to look for an alternative to
the straight pews that didn’t
quite fit the sanctuary’s circu
lar design.
He found what he needed at
Fairview Presbyterian Church,
which for 95 years had used
seating from a theater that
had been torn down in 1911.
In 2006, the Presbyterians
bought new pews and Adair
happily purchased the centu
ry-old theater seats.
He is particularly proud of
another unique interior fea
ture that came about through
a combination of unexpected
blessing and personal sacri
fice.
“Right after we got in the
church, we did a wedding
at the Carl House,” he said.
“A couple of cousins of the
bride had bought out Georgia
Lighting when it went out of
business. They had a chande
lier. This is a huge chandelier.
The Ritz-Carlton had bought
a couple for their ballroom
and paid $55,000 a piece for
them,” he said.
To get the chandelier at the
deeply discounted price of
just $9,000, Adair came up
with the funds by selling his
1938 Chevrolet — a restored
antique car like the one he
once drove on his dates with
his wife.
The only remaining work
inside the church is in the
basement, where young peo
ple have been renovating it for
use as a youth center.
“The youth are part of this
generation and the next; we
really have to have a place for
them,” Adair said.
The congregation of the
Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,
which has grown to 60 or
so worshippers on a typical
Sunday, began meeting in their
new sanctuary in the summer
of 2006 and dedicated their
restored building on April 22,
2007.
The building is now insured
for $4 million.
Adair said he has forgotten
the painful beginning to this
story and is now focusing on
something more significant.
“The fall, I think, was much
like a mother giving birth,” he
said. “The Bible says the pain
that a mother goes through is
forgotten quickly because of
the joy she has. That’s pretty
much the way it was with the
pain I went through. We’re
into the joy part of it with all
that the church has been able
to be.
“It’s been amazing. Any
need we’ve had has been met.
There have been people who
have just come out of the
woodwork. Some were there
for just a period of time and
gave to a certain thing. Some
have come and stayed, like
the Fussells, and continued
to give.
“It would have been a ter
rible thing for an icon like that
church building to be lost...
“We are custodians of this
building and not the owners
of it. Our vision is tied to over
100 years of legacy. May it be
used for the next 100 years for
the up-building of the king
dom of God.”
Camp continued from 1A
The Camp Twin Lakes
organization was established
in 1993 to provide recre
ational, therapeutic and edu
cational programs for chil
dren facing serious illnesses
and other life challenges.
The group operates a
500-acre campground in
Rutledge about 50 miles east
of Atlanta and works with 35
partner organizations serv
ing children with specials
needs.
“Because they are not
large enough to have their
own summer camps, we pro
vide them with the facility,
professional staff and pro
gram staff, and 70 percent of
the funding for their children
and volunteers to come to
the camp. They are responsi
ble for signing up their chil
dren, and we ask our partner
organizations to raise the
remaining 30 percent of the
costs,” said Skip Weiland,
the business office manager
for Camp Twin Lakes, in an
interview.
Since opening the Rutledge
camp, the organization has
served 30,000 children,
according to its website.
Camp Will-A-Way will
increase by 43 percent the
number of Georgia children
who can be served, the press
release states.
The expansion of camp
ing services at Camp Will-
A-Way will create a need
for additional food service
and maintenance workers, February, we’ll probably put
Bentley said. an ad in the newspaper for
“I think somewhere around people to apply,” he said.
CALL AND COMPARE
PER GRAM
770-867-0128
FAST CASH
JEWELRY & PAWN
123 East May St.
Winder, GA
Barrow Journal
HOLIDAY
AD DEADLINE
Classified and Display Ads
12 Noon,
Friday, Dec. 26
for the Dec. 31 publication
77 East May Street
Winder, Georgia 30680
(770) 867-NEWS
HOLIDAY SCENE
The Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit is decorated for the holiday season.
Photo by Jessica Brown
ALL WELCOME
Regular worship services are now held at the completely renovated Sanctuary of the
Holy Spirit in Winder. Photo by Jessica Brown
Final swearing-in at old courthouse Dec. 30
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The public is invited to
attend the final swearing-in
ceremonies of public officials
in the historic Barrow County
courthouse.
The county’s newly elected
officials will take their oaths
of office beginning at 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 30, at the court
house on North Broad Street.
All future such ceremonies
will take place in the new
Criminal Justice Center off
Hwy. 211, which is slated tc
open in the spring.
“This is the last ceremo
ny in the old courthouse,’
said Caroline Evans, who is
coordinating the swearing-in
arrangements.
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