After years of ministering in locations such as Carroll County High School and Woodlawn School, the congregation of Blue Ridge Fellowship has a place to call home.

The church, which was established about nine years ago and had been holding worship services in the schools, opened the door on a brand new facility on Feb. 10. The facility is located at 5357 Glendale Road.

Executive Pastor and Youth Pastor Don Boyles said having the building in place is great, and it will allow Blue Ridge to do more to minister to the area.

“The most awesome thing about it, and the thing we’ve tried to keep in mind, is the building is not the focus of our ministry,” Boyles said. “It’s just a tool to do our ministry. Now we have a place to do different programs. Now a couple of new ministries have started because we have a place to do them. We now have a hunter’s ministry that meets every couple of weeks now. We believe it targets our community.

“We’re having a Believer’s Service on Wednesday nights now that is going to be taking place for the next few weeks. We have a few things going on that we now have the room to do it.”

Boyles said after deciding on a permanent home for the church and undertaking a building campaign, he and Senior Pastor Scott Flippin traveled to California and met with Brian Conner, who helped them with their church design. Conner set plans for the church after getting specifications from Boyles and Flippin.

“He asked us about the membership and community and he designed it that way,” Boyles said. “Our church is pretty unique because of that. The thing that jumps out to most people is we have a fireplace and a chimney. We don’t have a steeple, but we have the fireplace with a cross affixed to that.”

Conner said having a fireplace instead of a steeple was done intentionally.

“We’re a very laid back church, we’re very casual and the fireplace reflects that,” he said.

Once the plan was in place, Garanco Inc. graded the land last June and worked as general contractors. The building arrived in September and the congregation moved into the facility in February.

Boyles said Blue Ridge Fellowship is planning a big Easter service on Sunday

“Historically, we’ve had a big crowd for Easter,” he said. “We’re adding an 8 a.m. service that day. We’ll have an egg hunt that day too.”

Blue Ridge also had a big Christmas celebration near the new churchhouse, which Boyles said set a template for future special ministries

“At Christmastime, before the building opened, the outside was finished, we had a Christmas celebration that incorporated the lights at Walk in the Wild for two nights,” Boyles said. “We had an estimated 1,500 people come out for the Christmas celebration. That’s the kind of things we’ll continue to do, provide a place for different outreaches like that. This fall, we plan on having a big event with the Hunting Ministry.”

Boyles said the church’s youth and children’s ministries are a big part of its mission. There are youth and children’s ministries each Wednesday and instead of Sunday school, there are individual services for age groups.

“We don’t have Sunday school but every age group has their own worship service with their own music and age-appropriate message,” Boyles said. “Our children’s ministry is huge. We’re averaging about 100 kids on Sunday mornings. It’s a big part of what we do.”

Blue Ridge Fellowship can be reached at 238-8800.