Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB)

Building dedication gives glory to God

Members of Sublette Southern Baptist Church, Sublette, Kan., rejoiced on Sunday, Oct. 17, during the dedication of the church’s spacious new addition. The 11,500-square-foot addition includes a 400-seat worship center, classrooms, offices, restrooms and a large foyer. The project marked the debut of Kansas-Nebraska Baptist Builders, which installed the electrical work.

The worship service on Sunday, Oct. 17, at Sublette Southern Baptist Church, Sublette, Kan., started by singing “To God Be the Glory.” A crowd of more than 300 people gave God the glory as the church dedicated its new 400-seat sanctuary.

After the opening hymn, the crowd witnessed the first baptism in the new baptistery. Abby Staab, age 24, shared her testimony on a video before Pastor Shane Lester baptized her.

The church’s spacious new addition “is an instrument in the hand of God to bring about life change,” Lester said. And the first baptism in the new baptistery was a symbol of that.

David Lakin, building committee chairman, recognized the professionals, volunteers and church members who helped make the new 11,500-square-foot addition a reality. It includes such energy-saving features as spray-foam insulation and radiant floor heating.

“This is a miracle,” Lakin said. “God built this building.”

The project saw an amazing outpouring of cooperation from the local community and Western Kansas Baptist Association. 

After the building’s shell was erected, volunteers did much of the interior work.

Volunteer Christian Builders, based in Texas, began the interior framing the day after Easter. The next day Kansas-Nebraska Baptist Builders began the electrical wiring. This was the first project for the Kansas-Nebraska group, which grew out of disaster-relief rebuilding teams that served in New Orleans, Greensburg, Kan., and other places.

Among the other volunteers groups that served were the Texas Retiree Baptist Men Cabinet Builders.

Church members prayed, gave money, fixed meals for the volunteers and served in many other ways.

“This building project is finished, but God’s building project is just now started,” Lakin reminded the crowd.

Pastor Lester used Joshua 20 as his sermon text and preached about the cities of refuge.

“This beautiful building was built to be a pointer, a place of refuge,” he said. It is a tool to point Sublette, Haskell County and southwest Kansas “to the refuge we have in Christ Jesus.”

Among those in attendance were former pastors Abraham Aldape and Dan Pearce. Long-time pastor Jerry Smith, who now serves in Andover, Kan., was unable to attend.

The entire congregation of the Hispanic Southern Baptist church in Sublette came to show support for their sister church.

Randy Caddell gave the dedication prayer at the end of the service. He is director of missions in Western Kansas Baptist Association.

The service also included a special offering for the building fund. Church members opened their hearts and wallets and gave slightly more than $47,000.

“God’s hand has just been all over this building, and I think the offering was just one more way that He showed us that,” Lester wrote in an e-mail.