How it all started...
- June 24, 2007 - First service of the Victory Fellowship Church congregation at American Legion Post #27 on US Rt 42 South. Soon outgrew capacity!
- August 5, 2007 - Congregation began meeting in the auditorium of Wilbur S. Pence Middle School.
- January 6, 2013 (only 5 1/2 years later) - The first worship service was held at 3160 Limestone Lane, Dayton, Virginia.
God led so many people to be a part of making this facility a reality that it would be impossible to name everyone. Some of the furnishings were built and given to the church. Other items were purchased and donated. All are deeply appreciated.
The church was built by Gary Crummett, a local building contractor. During the finishing phase of the project, he requested the ability to use some creative liberties for the pulpit area of the sanctuary. He assembled and donated the beautiful wooden panels behind the pulpit.
The block and brick work were completed by Dennis Knicley and his crew. He also wanted to design a special piece for the church. His creativity came in the form of a white brick cross on the east side of the church. He also designed the memory walk in front of the church. Most of the bricks placed here are in honor of or in memory of special people. The Fundraising committee was in charge of the sale and engraving of the bricks.
There are several stained glass pieces that were created by two artistic members of the congregation. Larry Shifflett created the image of Jesus on the Cross is on the east side of the building above the pulpit and the image of Jesus walking on the water on the west side of the building at the rear of the sanctuary. He also contributed another work of art that has stained glass within a wooden cross that was placed to the right of the pulpit. Kenneth Smith (now deceased) created the three panel piece of the “Good Shepherd” that was placed to the left of the pulpit. He started working on the first panel at the beginning of our organization as a church when there were no plans for a building. When he mentioned this to another member, the response of the other member was, "We'll build a church around the stained glass." Mr. Smith also created a stained glass piece that became the church logo. This was placed in the main corridor of the church.
We are incredibly blessed and thankful to God and to everyone who made this building a reality.
The Steeple Story
God's guiding hand has been evident in so many phases of Victory Fellowship's development, but this is the story that "tops" them all. The normal construction of a building begins at ground level with digging the foundation. But at Victory Fellowship, the building began with the uppermost part of the structure.
In May 2010 (about 22 months before breaking ground) the Finance Chair, Larry Shifflett, noticed a church steeple being sold at a good price through Ebay and contacted the seller. Then he contacted Pastor Sonny Henkel. Larry, Sonny and Rick Altizer (Church Board Chair) piled into a pickup and headed to Johnson City, Tennessee to look at the steeple. The men reached the destination, decided it was a good buy, paid the seller, and the deal was done. Well, not quite.
Sonny's was curious and decided to ask the seller where the steeple came from originally. After getting some vague answers, the seller admitted that he had bought the steeple at a yard sale. That raised more questions so the seller directed these three men to the yard sale site. He said, " You'll know the place, because the man has a blind dog." The men arrived at one of these year-round yard sales - tables in the yard with pans and dishes that had been accumulating water for a long time and a wrap-around porch filled with more tables and yard sale items. Sonny knocked on the door and a man yelled, "Come on in. I'm in the kitchen having my breakfast." He entered and followed the sound of the man's voice through a hallway back to the kitchen. It appeared from the looks of the kitchen table that breakfast consisted of an alcoholic beverage; and from the slur in the man's speech, he had been "breakfasting" awhile. When asked about the origin of the steeple, the man said a preacher had come through the area, wanted to start a church in the foyer of the house, and brought the steeple to put on the house. But when the church didn't materialize, the preacher moved on and left the steeple which ended up in this yard sale. The three men didn't buy the story and asked more questions. Then the yard sale man said the steeple came from a church in North Carolina; some of the members of that church were afraid of lightning since the steeple was so tall, and the steeple was removed.
By then it was nearly lunchtime, and the yard sale man recommended a nearby restaurant. The three men sat down to enjoy lunch and then planned to head home with the steeple. But before they could finish eating, the yard sale man showed up saying, "You boys come on back to my house. I have something from that church to give you." The men decided to ignore this invitation and head home. They got in the truck, had the motor running, ready to pull out... and there stood the yard sale man in the road, waving his arms. They had no choice but to go back to the yard sale. Sure enough, the man gave them a small wooden cross. Then asked them to do him a little favor; move the tables off the porch and move my refrigerator out on the porch. (Well, this was the month of May and wouldn't it be nice to have the refrigerator and its contents handy while sitting on the porch.) When the favor was accomplished, they moved swiftly to the truck and headed toward Virginia.
The steeple stayed behind Sonny's garage about two years. Measurements were taken and the building contractor, Gary Crummett, made sure the structure could accommodate the steeple. Some repairs were needed to the steeple in the way of welding, and Shickel's Machine Shop at Bridgewater graciously did this work at no charge. Although he detests painting, Sonny then took on the painting of the steeple as his personal project.
Many of the congregation gathered on August 28, 2012 to watch the steeple being swung into place.
In May 2010 (about 22 months before breaking ground) the Finance Chair, Larry Shifflett, noticed a church steeple being sold at a good price through Ebay and contacted the seller. Then he contacted Pastor Sonny Henkel. Larry, Sonny and Rick Altizer (Church Board Chair) piled into a pickup and headed to Johnson City, Tennessee to look at the steeple. The men reached the destination, decided it was a good buy, paid the seller, and the deal was done. Well, not quite.
Sonny's was curious and decided to ask the seller where the steeple came from originally. After getting some vague answers, the seller admitted that he had bought the steeple at a yard sale. That raised more questions so the seller directed these three men to the yard sale site. He said, " You'll know the place, because the man has a blind dog." The men arrived at one of these year-round yard sales - tables in the yard with pans and dishes that had been accumulating water for a long time and a wrap-around porch filled with more tables and yard sale items. Sonny knocked on the door and a man yelled, "Come on in. I'm in the kitchen having my breakfast." He entered and followed the sound of the man's voice through a hallway back to the kitchen. It appeared from the looks of the kitchen table that breakfast consisted of an alcoholic beverage; and from the slur in the man's speech, he had been "breakfasting" awhile. When asked about the origin of the steeple, the man said a preacher had come through the area, wanted to start a church in the foyer of the house, and brought the steeple to put on the house. But when the church didn't materialize, the preacher moved on and left the steeple which ended up in this yard sale. The three men didn't buy the story and asked more questions. Then the yard sale man said the steeple came from a church in North Carolina; some of the members of that church were afraid of lightning since the steeple was so tall, and the steeple was removed.
By then it was nearly lunchtime, and the yard sale man recommended a nearby restaurant. The three men sat down to enjoy lunch and then planned to head home with the steeple. But before they could finish eating, the yard sale man showed up saying, "You boys come on back to my house. I have something from that church to give you." The men decided to ignore this invitation and head home. They got in the truck, had the motor running, ready to pull out... and there stood the yard sale man in the road, waving his arms. They had no choice but to go back to the yard sale. Sure enough, the man gave them a small wooden cross. Then asked them to do him a little favor; move the tables off the porch and move my refrigerator out on the porch. (Well, this was the month of May and wouldn't it be nice to have the refrigerator and its contents handy while sitting on the porch.) When the favor was accomplished, they moved swiftly to the truck and headed toward Virginia.
The steeple stayed behind Sonny's garage about two years. Measurements were taken and the building contractor, Gary Crummett, made sure the structure could accommodate the steeple. Some repairs were needed to the steeple in the way of welding, and Shickel's Machine Shop at Bridgewater graciously did this work at no charge. Although he detests painting, Sonny then took on the painting of the steeple as his personal project.
Many of the congregation gathered on August 28, 2012 to watch the steeple being swung into place.
Where we are headed...
God has proven Himself faithful to Victory Fellowship Church since our founding in 2007. We believe that despite the ever changing world in which we live, people are still impacted by the timeless truths contained in God's Word. We are committed to fulfilling this vision as God directs and look forward to exploring God's unfolding plan.
