NORTH TOWNSHIP — For nearly 10 years, MissionView Church has rented space for worship services at Hoover High School while also renting office space on West Maple Street.
Both entities are now under one roof.
MissionView will have a grand opening Sunday for its new 26,000 square foot building at 1320 W. Maple St.
After:MissionView Church has the same vision, a new home in North Township
Kelly Hansen, ministry director for MissionView, said the first service was April 3.
“We got the keys on April 1,” she said. “We still have a few things to do on the to-do list. The corps (members) went out and cleaned things up and built some furniture.”
Reverend Matt Haupt, the church’s senior pastor, noted with joy that the church designed by SoL Harris/Day Architecture and built by Adkins Construction of Akron was completed on time and under budget by 3.2 millions of dollars.
MissionView Church Base Camp
“I’m really shocked by the response from the community,” Haupt said. “We had a lot of people talking about it.”
Asked what he preached on April 3, a smiling Haupt replied, “New beginnings.”
“We called this project, ‘The Basecamp’,” he said. “It is not an end, but the beginning of fulfilling and training people to fulfill their mission for Jesus.”
Flooded with natural light, the 24,000 square foot building includes first-floor meeting spaces, a coffee shop, a private space for nursing mothers, space for youth and children’s ministries, and a two-story sanctuary that can accommodate 446 people.
“It was a big project,” said Todd LaPage, a church elder who served as project manager.
LaPage recalled taking possession of the property, which once housed an office building and a for-profit college, in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The purchase price was $300,000.
MissionView bucks the trend of declining church attendance. In the weeks since the new building opened, attendance at the nondenominational church has been at standing room level, averaging 600 people each Sunday, Hansen said.
There are plans to add a second Sunday service in the fall, she said.
At the service of young families
Children’s ministry director Stephanie Walker and assistant director Colleen Spangler said they were delighted with the outcome. They have 11 classrooms to accommodate 145 children whose families attend MissionView.
Children’s ministry is assisted by 93 volunteers, who serve in rotating shifts of approximately 30 each Sunday
“We feel so lucky to be able to have the whole second floor,” Walker said. “We are a church of young families. Our faith leaders value families. They are so excited to come here and have a space of their own.”
The children’s section has in-person security and a check-in system, which requires adults to have matching tickets in order to pick up their children.
Near the visitor center is a plaque honoring MissionView’s founding pastor, the late Reverend Steve Marshall, who died in 2018.
Originally from Akron, Marshall launched MissionView in 2013.
Prior to his death, Marshall gave a series of moving and inspirational sermons related to his illness and impending death.
“His wife, mother and father are always there,” Hansen said.
To learn more about MissionView, visit www.missionviewchurch.org.
Contact Charita at 330-580-8313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP.
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