Staff report
When members of Pine Ridge Baptist Church emerge from their cars Sunday morning and head toward the front door, they can’t help but look up.
Their eyes will take in the church’s new steeple, set in place Tuesday afternoon by a crane.
The white fiberglass steeple, which includes stained-glass windows, is 28 feet, 6 inches tall by itself.
It rests on a base that is 7 feet, 3 inches.
Church leaders made the final payment for the steeple after its delivery Tuesday. Earlier this year, the congregation began making donations toward the steeple ó the church’s first ever ó at Wednesday night offerings.
Fiber Glass Unlimited Inc. of Roanoke, Ala., shipped the steeple to North Carolina by truck. It arrived on site at 1 p.m. The crane came at 1:30 p.m. and was leaving the grounds by 2:30 p.m. An installation crew worked a little longer in securing the steeple to the base.
“God has really blessed us,” said Libby Coggins, a member of the church, “and we try to spend God’s money wisely.”
The church, which Coggins says is a loving church known for a lot of fellowship, friendship and mission work, is located at 880 Old Linn Road in southern Rowan County.
A mission church started on this site in 1948 with 19 charter members, and the first congregation met in old Army barracks trucked in from Spartanburg, S.C.
About a year later, funds were raised to build a cement block church, which had brick veneer added later.
The Pine Ridge Baptist congregation moved into its new church building on Easter Sunday 1995. The Rev. George Bradshaw is the pastor.