As many church bodies have found over time, it can be difficult to continue and sustain growth while renting someone else’s space. Increasing growth can be called a good problem to have, but nonetheless, the church soon outgrew the YMCA meeting space and sought a building of its own
Mike Swain says, “I remember going with Dad….whenever they were looking at purchasing a building, or before they bought the land to build on Carrier Parkway there in Grand Prairie. [I was] going with him to look at ... some vacant church building.” But ultimately, the church decided not to buy an existing building but to construct a new one themselves.
According to Earl Swain’s account, “Believers Bible Church continued to meet in the YMCA until March 1977. In July 1976, the church voted to sell $115,000.00 worth of bonds to raise money to purchase land, build, and equip the first building.”
John recalls, “We sold church bonds to finance it….like buying bonds, and it's done through the church and for the support of the church. There were a lot of faith promises—yes, we're going to trust the Lord for this amount of money. And that's how it got started financially.” He also adds that the Lord provided “wonderfully.”
Earl’s account continues: “Three acres of land at 1217 South Carrier Parkway [in Grand Prairie] were purchased, the foundation was poured, and the shell of a 50’ x 125’ metal building was erected. Volunteers in the church completed construction of the interior part of the building.”
The church body was able to participate together in constructing the building. It was a unique experience for them. “The building the church together was a bonding thing,” John explains. “In other words, a lot of volunteer labor, and that included the two of us [himself and Carley] and our two little girls. Laying floor tile in the worship center, wallpapering back when wallpapering was a thing. And the whole church kind of bonded even more through that building program….building the community and relationships while doing it.”
Judy also fondly remembers the bonding experience of constructing the building:
[We started] with a metal building, like an old warehouse, I think….and then they began working on the inside. And what happened was one of the fellows was an actual contractor who did it for a living as far as building, so he taught all of these young members [how to build, etc.]. We were just so excited about having a new church, one that was theirs—that they didn't have to go and put all the chairs up at the YMCA. They didn't have to do all these other things….
Anyway, they all cooperated beautifully. I mean, everyone worked, and they had the fellow who knew what to do on the inside, and he had them putting it all up, and they did such a beautiful job. Everyone worked. On a lot of their nights and their weekends, they would work on the church. But it really brought them close together that way.
And then later, after it was built, [when] we started meeting in it, it really continued on that they were willing to be like the janitor. So people, different ones would take a weekend that it was their turn to clean the church, and everybody was so wonderful as far as going through all that together. So that was our beginning. Everybody just seemed to be so cooperative and everything, and they all were just very loving to one another.
The Swain family got involved, including Earl and a young Mike. Mike recalls, “I remember putting up drywall in the new building there on Carrier, because I guess they had a shell, a metal shell constructed. And then the inside was built out by volunteers. So one summer, me and some other people were up there putting up drywalls in the church.”
Janis Burdett (nee Bartel) shares a similar memory about her father Cecil’s involvement:
When [the church] outgrew the Y[MCA], they found the property over on Carrier Parkway, near Cottonwood Park. And they bought that. They bought that land, and then they decided to build the church, and they decided to do it themselves. Dad had a friend [named] Basil Jordan who worked at LTV who was an engineer and a designer. He helped them. They designed the building themselves, and the church members built the church….
I would come home for holidays. My memory was when I came home during the time they were building the church, when I came home from college, if I wanted to see my dad, I went up there and helped, and so I laid tile sheet rock. I painted. Because that's where my dad was. That's what he was doing. So it was fun. It was fun to do that. And the original building [was] a big metal building that had a big sanctuary and a couple of classrooms….and they brought in a construction trailer, [a] portable building that sat out front, and that was the church offices….
There was just a lot of sentimental attachment to that building. There was a lot of pride in [it]….Back then it was a way to save a lot of money, to do it, and fortunately they had the men….They had a lot of engineers and people that had resources, who knew what they were doing….Whoever built the metal came in and did the metal building, and most of their stuff [the church members’ involvement] was just to finish out the framing and the flooring and the ceiling, all the stuff inside the metal building. It was neat. I got married there in that building.
According to Earl’s account, “The construction was completed and the building dedicated on March 20, 1977.” This building that the members had constructed themselves would become the church’s home for many years to come.