A New Home, FINALLY
There is a TON to celebrate with New City Milledgeville (New City Church at the Mill) finally moving into their new home. I am borrowing from a blog post from Patrick McConnell and adding some of my own thoughts along the way in this post. Man, What a looooooong difficult trip its been!
(Patrick) Ten years ago, the Elders of New City Church Macon prayed and planted in Milledgeville. We felt the Lord calling us to see the Gospel transform this community for His sake. We dreamed of a church that would sit at the intersection of local cultures, socio-economic divides, and racial disparity and make the name of Jesus famous.
(Keith) Those first days were amazing and crazy! Buffingtons let us rent space from them on Sunday mornings and as soon as we started, we were holding 2 services and standing room only. Not far from Buffingtons was a former funeral home that gave us a great price for renting and a little more room as well. If I remember correctly we packed out 3 services there and were busting at the seams! After searching for building to lease or purchase we settled at John Milledge Academy. They were gracious to us and provided a great space.
In a short span of time we lost a really talented worship leader to a move and we lost a pastor. The church was hurting and it showed. After a lot of prayer, discussion and sleepless nights, the New City Macon elders agreed that we needed to keep pressing with the Milledgeville core - there was still a great need for the gospel in Milledgeville.
(Patrick) The Lord moved my family to Milledgeville to serve as New City’s Pastor four years ago. One of the priorities of the New City core was to find a permanent place to minister from…in short, a building. We didn’t want a building just to have a building…quite the opposite actually. We wanted to create a missional outpost that could serve the community. We wanted a place to serve DFCS and the many children in Foster Care. We wanted to serve the college community, families, and individuals…black, white, rich or poor.
While the search for a building would take many years, we patiently waited for the Lord to lead us in our search. We looked at many, many buildings over the years and one of those buildings was a run down, overgrown brick building at the corner of Watson and Jefferson. When we first entered the building, it was an absolute disaster. The remnants of the former night club that last occupied the building was mired in years of dust, debris, and spider webs…but there was the hint of possibility. As we prayed and considered, a glimmer of hope began to swell. The kitchen could be a nursery, the dance floors could be seating and a stage for worship, the stripper pole room could be a kid’s classroom. We dreamed and prayed.
It turned out that the old run down, overgrown brick building was a part of Milledgeville history. In the early 1900’s, The Milledgeville Cotton Seed Oil Mill was built to withstand fires that had devastated the previous wooden structure the Mill occupied. Over the past 100 years, the building has stood the test of time and has been called home to many businesses and owners. It is located at a crossroads of sorts; easily accessed by college students, downtown residents, lower socio-economic and middle-class neighborhoods. The physical location of the building sits geographically at an intersection of people that we had hoped and prayed to reach from the very beginning. God is so good.
For the past two years the church congregation, students from Georgia College, friends, family members, fellow churches and neighbors have all prayed, worked, served, and donated to see this historic building be brought to life once more.
(Keith) The last 10 years have seen a lot of highs and a lot of lows. There have been baptisms, births and celebrations and there have been hard losses as well. The core of New City in Milledgeville has been incredible! They have shown resilience, sacrifice and incredible faith. After 10 years they are finally in a new home - their home. Truthfully, there are not words for how these pictures from last Sunday make me feel, and I know Patrick feels the same (and then some) because he shared his joy with the elders that afternoon.
(Keith) The official new building Launch service is still almost 2 weeks away and look at what God is doing! The stories of his provision through the years in Milledgeville are many, but especially over these last 4 years. He has proven Himself faithful again and again and again. And He has made clear that He has plans for New City in Milledgeville! I can’t wait to see them unfold!
If you are in the Milledgeville area and don’t have a church home, I have one for you! New City Church at the Mill.
