Dateline: September 27, 2001

Church breaks ground  

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Members of the Fellowship Community Church broke ground on the site of a new building Sunday afternoon on the southwest edge of Clarendon.

Church members hope to have the facility completed by Christmas.

Building committee chairman Rogers Hester says the new church will be a 50-foot by 110-foot metal frame structure with a brick veneer and a metal roof. The building will sit at an angle on the lot, facing motorists on the JA Ranch Road as they come around the corner from Clarendon.

The sanctuary will be 60 feet long and can be expanded at a future date. Seating will accommodate 190 people. The church will house five Sunday School classrooms, a large kitchen, and a pastor’s study.

Construction should start within two weeks under the direction of Steen Construction of Amarillo.

Hester designed the building himself after he and other members traveled to several churches in the area to get ideas.

The Community Fellowship Church with Bryan Knowles as it pastor was chartered in November of last year with 51 members, Hester said. The membership has grown to 109 as of Sunday, and the church is hoping to reach 150 before they open the new building.

Currently, the church meets in the Panhandle Community Services building.

Hester says Community Fellowship is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention of Texas, but he says everyone is welcome.

“We’re building it for anybody of any race to come and worship God,” Hester said.