Carol Stream congregation going home
Paul Arthurs sees the light at the end of his congregation's long journey back home to Wheaton Christian Center Church.
The Carol Stream congregation and its pastor will celebrate its first services in its own church building Sunday since a March 31 microburst destroyed much of the site at 610 E. North Ave.
The 10:30 a.m. service also will mark the anniversary of the congregation's first services at the North Avenue site six years ago.
"The experience has really stretched our people beyond their comfort zones, but they've … risen to the occasion," Arthurs said Tuesday. "It's a second chance to make a first impression."
Parishioners have spent the past six months meeting at temporary sites at a local hotel and at the College of DuPage. The church's new elementary school also moved to temporary quarters.
Church leaders Sunday will display a video montage of their experiences since the spring windstorm.
Construction crews spent much of the summer rebuilding walls, replacing carpet and patching holes in the roof of the building -- an estimated $4 million project.
The private school began on time at the church site earlier this month, and the offices have been open since late July.
An accompanying furniture resale shop also has since reopened. Arthurs said he hopes Sunday's services will mark a return to normalcy for Wheaton Christian Center Church.
"This is a real celebration because our church has worked hard," Arthurs said. "The church behaved like a true church."
Earlier this week, Carol Stream village officials gave church leaders an extension on a one-year deadline to beautify its campus with landscaping and building façade renovations.
The deadline was placed on the church as a condition for village approval of opening the elementary school.
"It was a disaster what happened to the church" following the microburst, Carol Stream Mayor Frank Saverino said. "It's hard for us to tell them they need to make good on their promise right now. Giving them seven more months isn't asking a whole lot."