In 1968 the members of the Boise SDA Church began to discuss plans for adding another church to serve the Boise area. For several years members from the Boise congregation watched the market for a church building, or property, for sale.
It was not until December of 1975 that a building in Meridian, on the corner of E. Carlton and 2nd Street was located as a possibility for the new church. It was a small one-story brick building that was owned by the LDS Church and used as a seminary. The asking price was $46,000. An offer of $35,000 was rejected but a second offer of $39,000 in cash plus closing costs was accepted.
A renovation committee formed in January 1976 and work began to remodel the building. Ten months later the Meridian SDA Church was officially organized on October 1, 1976 with 62 charter members. Elder Philip Samaan served as its first pastor. The Meridian church met at this location for the next 15 years.
A progression of pastors came and went. They included Lee Larsen, Milton Erhart, Stan Beerman, Jim Berglund, Bruce Avery, and Terry Edwards. By 1984 Don Driver was pastor of the Boise Meridian district where both Doug Bryan and Fred Cornforth each served as associate pastor with him.
Throughout all the changes in leadership, one couple stands out as the glue that held the congregation together—Chuck and Delmarie Null. It was Chuck’s vision to have a new, larger church some day in Meridian. In 1988 the church voted to purchase the property at Ten Mile and Cherry Lane. Because the estate selling the property wanted a church to be built on the site, they sold the three-and-a-quarter acre lot to the congregation for only $25,000.
In 1991, with the land paid off, it was voted to sell the church on 2nd Street and rent from the United Methodist church while building on the new property. In 1995 ground was finally broken for the new church. Pastor Tim Gray was handy with a hammer and with the help of several members did most of the framing. The building went up in phases and the church was dedicated on October 5, 1996.
In 2003, as the church was burning their mortgage and preparing to complete the final phase of building, we were approached with an offer to sell the property to Walgreens. At first the offer was declined; however, a second offer was made in 2005. Walgreens would build a church for us, on a five-acre lot on Black Cat Road, in exchange for the property on Ten Mile. The deal was signed, and we rented temporarily from the Meridian Friends Church while our current church was being built.
In October 2006, with Garey Gantz as Pastor, we moved into our beautiful new church. Pastor Gantz later left for the mission field and Pastor Michael D. Pearson took over in 2009. While many families have come and gone over the past four decades, a continuing theme throughout has been evident: service to God, to one another, and to our community. Our mission is to create a place where everyone feels welcome.
Meridian's First Bulletin - October 1st, 1976
|
|
|
|
|
|