A home for the church

By Cassie Tomlin

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 | midnight

If you ask members of Boulder City United Methodist Church, a church is not a building, but the people inside.

Still, the roving congregation, after eight years of meeting in garages, a hotel and now the Senior Center for its services, is forging forward with plans to build a sanctuary home near Utah Street by Boulder City Cemetery.

Since January 2007, worshipers have helped cart chairs, banners and a keyboard into the Senior Center lunchroom every Sunday morning and then remove them a few hours later.

A permanent spot won’t just give the 120 active church-goers a place to use 24 hours but will serve the community at large, Pastor John Ritenour said.

In 2006, church members bought 3.5 acres, and this year have hired an architect, a civil engineer, and a landscape architect. The city sold the land for $197,000 with the requirement that if the church ever sells it, it must be to a nonprofit.

During services, a foam model of their proposed digs sits on display at the Senior Center. The building will hold about 170 people.

The next step is city permits, expected to be approved this fall.

Ritenour, who was appointed pastor in 2004, said everyone is thankful for the space in the Senior Center, but an exclusive building would allow after-school programs and midweek Bible studies, as well as space for other local organizations when they need it.

In 2000, about 15 people longing for a local Methodist church held the first service in a garage. Later, they moved services to St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church on Sunday afternoons, then to the Best Western on U.S. 93.

Brian Fox was one of those original members who formed the church “in great trepidation,” as he recalled it.

“It’s become a primary point of interest,” he said, of the new building. “Initially, it wasn’t even a remote thought. We’re stumbling along, getting there little by little.”

He noted the congregation’s 60 members haven’t asked for any monetary support from the national United Methodist Church but are still trying to raise $2 million needed for the Spanish Colonial-style building.

“It’s a small group of people who will have to come up with the money, but we keep going, because we simply believe without question that God wants us to get it built,” he said. “It might not be on our time, but it will get built.”

Ritenour said next month, the congregation will meet to organize fundraising efforts. He said the church would accept any kind of donation from the public.

One member remained unconcerned with the building’s status after services that morning.

Dena Weinberg said she attended United Methodist’s Bible study two years ago with a friend and immediately “fell in love with the church.”

Weinberg, who was raised Jewish but had never attended synagogue let alone church, calls United Methodist the best thing to ever happen to her, with or without a building.

“No matter where I am, if I have my church family, I’m OK,” she said. “Every single time I step foot into the presence of this, it’s amazing the uplift I get.

Cassie Tomlin is a reporter for the Home News. She can be reached at 702-948-2073 or [email protected].