The atmosphere was electric on Saturday evening as parishioners and guests filed into Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church’s new building, located at 219 Maple Street in Columbus, for the dedication service.
The road to the new building has been a long one, with the COVID-19 pandemic rearing its head right in the middle, and Pastor Mark Hyde was glad to see it culminate in Saturday’s festivities.
“This has been a journey,” he said. “In our organization, they move the pastors from district to district. I was assigned to this district in 2020, right before COVID really started. At the time, the members did not have a building of their own and they said to me, ‘Pastor, the first thing we want to be on the agenda is to get a building of our own.’ So for the last three years I have been on the journey of trying to find them a building. It has been a bumpy road, but the Lord has blessed us and landed us here.”
While Hyde is glad to see the end of the road, he added that he is not the sole reason for its success. He said the pastors before him were just as responsible for it as he was.
“What I am thankful for is the pastors, prior to me coming here, had laid a good foundation,” he said. “They had done the groundwork, and so I am just in the reaping phase. I want to say that I did some work, but I am reaping the blessings of what the former pastors did.”
The church is going from renting a small building that barely had room to house the congregation, to owning its own building that has many of the amenities that are needed for a successful ministry.
“It’s just an overwhelming feeling to see that we have our own building that we can do some, I would call it, serious ministry in the community,” Hyde said. “(God) has blessed us with a wonderful sanctuary. He has blessed us with classrooms that we can reach out to the community to have dedication classes. He has blessed us with a cafeteria where we can provide good wholesome meals for the community. I am just excited to see what God is going to do. The Bible says he is going to do a new thing, and so we are receiving that in the name of Jesus.”
There were visitors from Colorado, Nashville and Memphis to name a few.
Among those in attendance was Mayor Keith Gaskin. He and Hyde have developed a friendship since Gaskin took office.
“I am extremely impressed that you are all here to be with Pastor Hyde and the folks from Columbus who are adding a new church here in our city,” Gaskin told the congregation Saturday. “That warms my heart. It gives me hope. It gives me pride that we have a city that will attract so many children of God here to celebrate.”
He added that people, such as those at Salem, are the lifeblood of Columbus.
“I tell people often that it’s not the politicians or elected officials who make a difference in the community, it’s the citizens,” he said. “Even more important than that, it’s the church.”
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