Sterling church to celebrate final mortgage payment, 40th anniversary in June

STERLING – Sterling’s Abiding Word Church will celebrate its 40th anniversary Sunday, June 15.

The event will include special services at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. featuring guest speaker the Rev. Tony Cooke and a symbolic “mortgage-burning” ceremony to celebrate the church’s final payment on its property at 806 E. Lynn Blvd.

Pastor Scott Porter said the church was established June 16, 1985, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East Third Street in Sterling with seven members and founding Pastor Jim Evans. Porter was finishing his final year of college at the time and returned to the area in 1986 to serve as the church’s assistant children’s youth pastor. He became senior pastor in 1988.

“I was 21 years old at the time, and now I’m turning 61 on June 16,” Porter said. “Last Sunday was my 39th anniversary at the church. In the words of Elton John, ‘I’m still standing.’”

The church remained at its original location until 1995, when it purchased the former Kings Den building across from the Grandon Civic Center.

Between 1993 and 1995, a significant increase in youth attendance led to a temporary arrangement, with adults holding their services in the former auditorium of the Sterling Coliseum, while the children continued meeting at the original church building.

In 2001, Abiding Word purchased the land where its current building stands on East Lynn Boulevard.

“Two months later, the steel mill goes belly up,” Porter recalled. “Several of our members lost their jobs, including my brother. So, we broke ground in 2007 on this building, and then in 2008, when we were two months from moving in, the bank crisis happened. It’s never been easy, but we’ve believed in God and kept on pushing forward, and here we are today.”

Abiding Word paid off its mortgage at the end of March, thanks in part to the support of its congregation, many of whom made financial pledges last year to help reach the goal.

Looking ahead, Porter said Abiding Word plans to construct a youth ministry building east of its parking area, add an administrative wing with classrooms and expand its children’s wing.

“We put our heart and soul into our children’s and youth ministries, and we’re still doing that,” Porter said. “I was the first children’s pastor in the history of Abiding Word Church, and as long as I’m here and this church is here, that’ll always be a priority.”