One of the exciting things that we got to see and hear about last week at the Heartland Baptist Bible College Church Planter’s Conference was a report on the progress of a work we assisted in at the last two church planting conferences. It was regarding the restoration of the 170-year-old Union Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. The old congregation had dwindled down to a handful of elderly members hanging on. They had not had a Pastor for many years. The building, once a beautiful brick edifice, had deteriorated to the point that the New York city building dept. had to condemn it.
Pastor Pete Montoro, in Queens, was contacted and agreed to become the interim pastor and try to save the building and church. The long process of raising the funds and doing the work began. This month at our church planting conference we rejoiced together with Pastor Montoro and the permanent Pastor, Mike Newburger, that the city had okayed the reoccupation of the building! The main auditorium remains to be restored, but other areas of the building are now usable, and the work goes forth! A miracle in downtown Brooklyn!