A decade later, a church will rise

For the last decade, a sign along Gelden Road in Lindenhurst has promised a new church.

In the next few months, the sign is finally going to be replaced by one.

Liberty Community Church received approval in December from the Lindenhurst plan commission to move forward with plans to build a church on just over 9 acres between Deep Lake and Grass Lake roads.

"We're hoping to be in by Thanksgiving, or Christmas at the latest," Pastor Roger Bond said. "If we hit a few snags along the way, that's OK; we trust that this is in God's hands."

Until now, services at the nondenominational church had been held in a storefront at the Waterford Commons strip mall on Grass Lake Road.

"We've struggled just to get people in our doors because no one can find us," Bond said.

Lindenhurst will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday at village hall, 2301 East Sand Lake Road, before rezoning the land from residential to institutional.

The new church will hold about 200 people and be modeled after Beautiful Savior Evangelical Church on Deep Lake Road, just south of Route 173.

"They were so gracious to us to let us use their design," Bond said. "It saved a significant amount on architectural fees."

The church will cost about $1 million to build. So far, Bond said, about $270,000 has been raised, with the rest of the cost to be financed.

The church has owned the land on Gelden Road since 1997.

Bond said the church will not disturb the mature trees on the property, and he wants to keep the site restful and park-like for its parishioners.

Currently, there are about 40 church members and about 80 to 100 people attend Sunday service, Bond said.

Liberty Community Church was founded in 1987 by Pastor Doug Labelle and a group of about 30 people who were commissioned by Christ Community Church of Zion to plant a new church in Lindenhurst.

The group met for a year at the Lindenhurst Civic Center, then moved to B.J. Hooper School.

Services have been held in the Waterford Commons Center since 2001, the same year Bond, 52, was hired to take over for Labelle.