Midway Church held a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday, a significant moment, as this year marks 50 years since the first building was established.
Connecting the past and the present, Sonny Gibbs, one of the founding members, spoke at the ceremony and recounted some of his earlier memories.
“The first time that we publicly met, we met at the community building in downtown Aubrey,” Gibbs said. “There was ice and snow all over the place. I think we had 35 people that showed up for the first meeting. We were thrilled to death with that.”
Gibbs, a Pilot Point native, shared that there were many great churches in the area and was glad to be among one of them. He also expressed his gratitude to be able to witness what’s taking place.
“It's just another step,” Gibbs said. “It's a building. It's not the church. It's where the church congregates during the week to be encouraged and informed so we can go out in the community and be the church in the community ... God is good, and he did all of this, we did nothing, we were available. He did it all, [and] He gets all the credit.”
Since 1976, the church has only expanded, finding new ways to accommodate and keep up with growth by holding two services instead of one, forming Rock Creek Church in Prosper and expanding Midway’s worship center.
In doing so, the church was then able to better host community and school events.
Then in 2022, they broadened their reach by creating Iglesia Midway, a Spanish-language church service.
“We're experiencing so much growth in the area and just wanting to be ready for that growth so that we can do what the most important thing is for us as a church, is to meet people's spiritual needs and ultimately lead people to Christ,” Communications Director Leah Rummel said. “… So as people come here, we want to be good stewards of where God's placed us here in this location and be ready for the people who are going to be in our backyard.”
To help fund the project, the church launched the Gaining Ground Capital Campaign in January with a goal of raising $4.8 million. They surpassed that goal, receiving over $6 million in pledges.
The funds will be used to create a new worship center, expand the lobby and kids' space and increase parking capacity.
“Over the next few months, people are going to be heading north and south on the highway,” lead Pastor John Theisen said. “And they're going to see dirt moving, equipment and machinery. And what we'll be witnessing is the testimony of a faithfulness of our God,” At the ceremony, Theisen shared that over the decades, missionaries have gone out, children have been disciplined, churches have been established and lives have changed.
“When you see buildings, always see people,” Theisen said. “And when you hear financial reports, you always think heart. And when you put heart and a burden for souls together with property, we can't save somebody's soul with buildings, but it's just tools and opportunities for more people to live a Christ-centered life and to have eternal hope, and we want that to continue.”
Heads bowed as Elder Neil Blais gave a prayer of dedication.
Then the Serve/Go Pastor, Jonathan Krawczyk, invited the individuals who represented ‘the family of Midway’ to stand behind the shovels, including representatives from the preschool, kids, student ministry, Iglesia Midway and the Aspen Group.
The children in the audience looked excited, wearing their colorful plastic hard hats and holding their popsicles as everyone yelled together in harmony, “Three, two, one—turn that dirt.”
