Abundant Life Pentecostal Fellowship
The storefront where it all began
Our first location was a 40’x40’ garage style building in a strip mall on Groveport Road. It had one bathroom and no other rooms. There was a large garage door that we opened from time to time when we needed to accommodate more seating by using the back parking lot. We had to have Sunday School classes outside (weather permitting) so we had to get there early to set up the tables and chairs in time for classes to begin. And volunteers to take them all down and put them away after worship service. The only things new in this building were the pulpit and altar (which we built), the coat of paint we put on the wall, the carpet we installed over the concrete floor and the vinyl banner sign that covered the only window. All the other furnishings were used – either borrowed, gifted or bought from some other church’s hand me downs. We even borrowed folding chairs from the local funeral home in order to have enough seating. We had to pick them up on Saturday evenings and return them on Monday mornings! We were in this building for almost 3 years! Despite the challenges, we experienced growth, both spiritually and in numbers.
A church building!
Church on Ridge Street
God opened the door to purchase an actual church builing in 2001. The sanctuary would be filled to capacity but it had a couple of rooms in the basement for classes. It also had two bathrooms, a nursery and a small office. We had to renovate it by putting up all new drywall, painting, and installing new carpet, as well as build a new altar, before we were able to move in. We continued renting the first location to use for youth services, dinners/events and storage. We were only here for about 18 months but growth and blessing continued.
A bigger building!
Church on Delray Road
We were offered to purchase a bigger church on Delray Road after being on Ridge Street for a little over a year. We found a buyer for Ridge Street and after about 4 months we closed on the purchase of the church on Delray. It needed a lot of TLC and updating. Once again, we worked very hard and non-stop to build new walls and a sound booth, and preparing existing walls and floors. We bought 60+gallons of paint, installed new carpeting, repaired plumbing, and made other necessary repairs to get it ready for having services. This building was very large with almost 16,000 square feet of space both upstairs and down. We went from two bathrooms to five, two classrooms to twenty, one office to three, and nearly tripled the size of our sanctuary! We also had a kitchen and large fellowship hall, and even a baptistery. Our dedicated members sacrificed so much time volunteering many hours to make the building a beautiful place to worship. The location and space allowed us to begin a food pantry in the local community. We changed the name of the church from Aboundat Life Pentecostal Fellowship to Judah Tabernacle in 2005. We were set for a very long time, so we thought! But God has other plans for our future.
Formerly a VFW!
Our current location
Our Next Chapter!
The plans have been drawn up, let's raise the roof!
