Campus volunteers raise new church from rubble
SAULT STE MARIE, ON—When Jeremy Murdoch gave up the security of a church staff position to found a campus ministry he had no idea how quickly the fledgling ministry would grow—or the challenges that would come with success. Feeling God had given him the desire to do campus ministry, Murdoch, his wife and a handful of friends launched a ministry in Sault College's Outback bar in October 2004.
"We lived by faith," says Murdoch, "and at that time we had a little baby."
The ministry—called The Summit and associated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada—held its services in the bar while drinking was in full swing.
"We had some pretty fun times there," Murdoch says. "I had never been told to F-off while preaching a sermon before. People would come in and get drunk. Another time this guy walked right up and stood directly in front of me while I was preaching, because something had really stirred him. But then the bar told us they didn't want us there anymore, and it was time to move on."
The Summit found a new home in an auditorium at Algoma College and later moved to the campus' Speak Easy pub.
"We grew quite rapidly as a student church," Murdoch says. "We had about 100 students coming out."
But barely a year after starting the ministry, Murdoch says people began asking for a Sunday service as well.
"We were purely a campus student ministry when we first launched," he says, "But then a few of the students got married, and one couple was having a baby. Our leadership team all had children too. So we decided to add a small house church on Sunday mornings. The first week we had 35 people. The second we had 55. And it just went from there."
When the The Summit outgrew the bar in 2007, they bought a 7,100-square-foot office building in downtown Sault Ste Marie and volunteers began transforming it into a church.
"We're still at it now," Murdoch says. "We gutted the main floor. We tore out everything. We filled at least 25 dumpsters. Everything started wonderfully at first. It was not uncommon to see 20 people out there at night.
"Then time kept going on. It's been too long. Our people are tired. We're a young church with no money. We have about 40 children under the age of eight in our church, and their parents can't keep giving up their nights. The only people in our church who [aren't in school or] don't have babies at home are basically my dad and mom.
"We've been neglecting ministry stuff because we can't do everything. We can no longer keep putting energy into the building or we'll start hurting families. So even though we have no money we have to start hiring jobs out. We're exhausted. Enough is enough. Let's just get this done—then we'll have to pick up the pieces financially.
"I hate asking this," Murdoch adds, "but if anybody out there has a heart for new ministry and new visions—we need some help."
To add to the stress, six members of the congregation were recently laid off from their jobs at the local steel plant.
But still, there have been miracles. An acquaintance drove up from Toronto and drywalled through the night. A local church pitched in for a clean-up day. Another man drove down from Englehart to volunteer for a month. "He was 65 years old," Murdoch says, "and he worked his tail off.
"God has been good," he adds. "One day I received two unexpected bills totalling 10 grand. I was really ticked off and asking God, 'What's going on?' when I get a phone call telling me someone has donated a check for $10,000. I just broke, and I heard God saying, 'Will you just trust me?'
"My faith was nothing when I started this; I was scared of everything. I believe now that God can do the impossible. This is God's vision. I am just privileged to just be a part of it."
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