Grace Church’s move on track
The people of Grace Church are working to transform the former Embers Restaurant into their new and improved place of worship by fall.
Jason Tubbs, a staff member who oversees the project, said construction began in August, less than two months after the church purchased the 24,000-square-foot building at Preston and Mission streets for $750,000. Since then, Tubbs said things have progressed smoothly.
The congregation hoped to have the building usable by Dec. 31, in order to christen the new location at an annual New Year’s Eve service. That goal was reached.
Now members hope to have all construction completed by mid-September, shortly after Mount Pleasant begins to buzz with the start of CMU’s fall semester.
“We’d like to have a grand opening of sorts in the fall, when the students come back,” Tubbs said.
Embers was a landmark Mount Pleasant restaurant for 50 years before closing in June 2007.
Church members have been meeting at least four nights a week to continue work on what they refer to as “Mission 1217” — the old Embers’ address on Mission Street. On Thursday, about 30 members were painting, putting up light fixtures and performing other structural work inside.
The church is holding one service in the new building at the end of each month until it is finished. As motivation to accelerate construction, it has set a goal to have at least one new room done by the time each service rolls around.
Accommodation
Adam Agosta, a Mount Pleasant resident and CMU graduate student, said he likes being part of the building process.
“It’s like a family,” he said. “It’s fun to do it together.”
CMU alumnus and Mount Pleasant resident Justin Weare worked as an Embers server in 2004. He said it was interesting to be back in the building and help with the renovation.
“It has been really weird and surreal, but cool,” he said.
Agosta and Weare said the main reason they are still in Mount Pleasant is because of Grace Church.
The church currently meets at the Ward Theatre, 218 S. Main St. The Embers location will offer more space, particularly to accommodate the growing number of children — anywhere from 100-150 — who come for one of two services each weekend, church members say.
Tubbs said local businesses have allowed the church use of their buildings to help accommodate the youngest members.
“We usually send the kids to about four or five different buildings, so it’s really inconvenient,” he said.
A big reason for the move was location. The Ward Theatre is harder to find, he said, so a location on Mission makes it easier to find and is closer to Central Michigan University’s campus.
“We do a lot of involvement with student groups,” Tubbs said. “This puts us within walking distance of campus.”
He said about 90 percent of the work has been done by volunteers within the congregation. There are about 75 different volunteers, he said, and most devote at least one evening a week to the project.
