As church grows, founding pastor also prepares to pass the torch

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Celebration Community Church will celebrate the dedication of a new worship center this weekend.

The church has just completed the third in a series of building projects at its building at 5790 230th Ave., Hays.

A new 550-seat worship center will include state-of-the-art sound and projection systems. The environmental projection system will allow the church to project images on three walls of the worship center for an encompassing multimedia experience.

“This is not your grandmother’s church,” Senior Pastor Kyle Ermoian said.

If the church wanted to turn the worship center to a stained-glass, gothic cathedral, it could do it. If someone always wanted to be married in the mountains, they can recreate a mountain top. The church has access to 10,000 images for its new projection system.

“We live in a media-driven society,” Ermoian said. “Unless the church mirrors that, it will fall behind, and we have found that has happened throughout the country. Celebration has always tried to stay on the cutting edge of contemporary Christian music, as well as contemporary up-to-date, state-of-the-art technology.

“The technology is used to reach this generation and the next in a way they can relate to. To reach the next generation, we have to speak the language of the next generation, and that is multimedia driven.”

The children’s area, which was the original worship area, has been remodeled and decorated with bright colors. During the week, the church offers Victory Christian Academy school program for pre-school through fifth-grade children. On Sunday, children’s church is offered for all services except the 8:30 a.m. worship. Children participate in a group worship with music and then break off into age-appropriate smaller groups for lessons, games, snacks and crafts.

Ermoian described stepping into the children’s area like stepping out of Kansas into the colorful world of Oz.

The rest of that area was remodeled into small-group areas and office space.

The lobby of the church has also been remodeled to give up to 100 church members opportunities to gather and socialize before and after services. The church has a speciality coffee/smoothie bar in the lobby, which will sell drinks with proceeds going to church missions.

Celebration began in 1996 with 14 people in a storefront in Hays. The church moved to its present location with a 13,000-square-foot building in 2001. A 15,000-square-foot addition was added in 2008, and the most recent three-year Faith Forward capital campaign added 16,000 square feet.

Ermoian said the new facilities were tools to help the congregation continue its mission to reach the estimated 20,000 unchurched residents within a 20-mile radius.

“The church is not a building,” Ermoian said. “The church is the people. Buildings are the tools to facilitate the growth of the people. It has always been our goal to attract people, to connect them, to grow them in their faith, to teach them to serve and send them to reach other people with the good news that we have been given.”

Celebration has a contemporary service at 8 a.m. on Sundays. It also has three services that are geared to the next generation that consist of contemporary Christian music with a live band and mutlimedia presentations. Those services, called the Edge, especially attract worshipers younger than 50.

The Edge services are at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sundays.

All services had been conducted in the church’s gymnasium due to space concerns, but that was never the intended use for the that part of the facility.

The church’s children’s ministry serves more than 100 children each weekend. The CrossCurrent ministry for middle school and high school students also serves about 100 youth. The church college and career program attracts more than 400 young adults every Wednesday night. In all, the church attracts more than 900 people to its Hays campus each weekend. The church also has a branch in Colby.

“Looking to continue to reach out to our community and beyond, we have developed a facility to accommodate that future growth,” Ermoian said.

After 21 years of serving the Hays church, Ermoian, 65, will retire to north Georgia at the end of October to be closer to his four grandchildren.

Brant Rice, who spent the last 17 years as youth pastor and teaching pastor, will assume the role as senior pastor. He will be assisted by Derek Mayfield, systems pastor. Rice and Mayfield spearheaded the current capital campaign.

Rice echoed Ermoian’s thoughts the church needed a place for people to connect and the lobby and coffee bar will help the church members do that. Rice is also looking forward to using the church’s new projection system.

“It will give a great aesthetic environment,” he said.  “We will be able to add creativity to worship, creativity in wedding and  collages during memorial services. Those are just some of the things we hope to draw into worship.”

Rice said he hopes to continue to move the congregation forward, but he has big shoes to fill.

“Pastor Kyle has done a phenomenal job meeting a need in community to provide a contemporary worship,” Rice said. “Above all things, we want to continue to attract unchurched people and help develop people to become mature followers of Christ.”

Ermoian said he has great confidence he is leaving the congregation in competent hands and great pride in seeing the latest building additions completed. He also hopes the new worship center and its multimedia experience will further help engage parishioners.

“There is great satisfaction in seeing the growth of Celebration over the last 21 years and the buildings we have raised money for, built on time and under budget,” he said.

A new sermon series will be kicked off during all services this weekend in dedication of the new facilities that focuses on the church as its people. The church will also celebrate with child dedications and an outdoor baptism service on Sunday.

Rice said the sermon series will focus on God’s purpose for the church.

“We are not to be holy huddle or a club or exclusive hub,” he said. “We are imperfect people and we want to help people learn what God’s purpose for their life is.”

For more information, contact the church at 785-625-5483.

Updated 10:36 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017.