August 14, 2000
Columbus Avenue converts former
YMCA into ministry center
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___WACO--Columbus Avenue Baptist Church may have the largest baptistry in the state of Texas.
___And this is one baptistry where it's OK to swim a few laps as well.
___The Waco church has purchased and renovated a former YMCA building adjacent toits property and created an 82,000-square-foot Family Life Center that spans five floors and includes a 20-meter swimming pool.
AN AERIAL VIEW of the former YMCA building that has been renovated and turned into a family life center and ministry center by Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco.
___The pool already has been put to good use, both by children taking swimming lessons and by people of all ages who have professed faith in Jesus Christ and been baptized there.
___The Center, as the facility is called, is home to an African-American congregation that was begun as a mission of Columbus Avenue. To date, Living Witness Missionary Baptist Church has baptized 48 new believers in the pool.
___"Little did we know that the swimming pool would become the largest baptistry in town," said Glenn Dyer, activities minister at Columbus Avenue and director of The Center.
___The church had used the YMCA facility for various functions for years, Dyer said. After several offers to buy the building were refused, the congregation proceeded with plans to build its own Family Life Center in a nearby location.
___But before the new facility could be built, the YMCA relocated to the suburbs and purchase of the existing building was negotiated. Not all church members were happy about the turn of events, because some feared the old YMCA building was in need of too much repair, Dyer said.
___The building had been vacant for 18 months and had been in declining condition for years before that, he said. Pigeons and vagrants had begun to occupy the empty building.
___At the time, Dyer was minister of singles and young marrieds at the church. In staff meeting one day, he asked what was to be done with the old YMCA building now that the church owned it.
___Pastor Ron Durham looked at him and said, "Have at it," Dyer recalled.
___That was a confirmation of God's leading in his own life, he said. Through an Experiencing God Bible study, Dyer already had felt God's nudge into recreation ministry, he said. So he took the opportunity as a challenge.
___With help from Baylor University students and other volunteers over an 18-month period, the gym and swimming pool were made useable. From this small portion of the building, Columbus Avenue began literacy programs, self-help programs, a clinic for the homeless, after-school care for neighborhood children and Living Witness Missionary Baptist Church.
___After three years, the church shut down the facility for two years for a complete overhaul to make the entire building useable.
___It now includes a retreat center, a cardiovascular rehabilitation center, weight room, aerobics hall, gymnasium, two racquetball courts, meeting rooms, child-care area with indoor playground, swiming pool, locker rooms, health clinic with three examining rooms and a food court that can serve up to 120 people.
___The facility is far more than a family life center, Dyer said. It is a missions center, Bible study center, ministry center and more.
___The Center's dormitory can house up to nine students, and the church uses this space for Truett Seminary students who live on site and serve as ministry staff.
___The Center "gives us a lot of space for our own use, but our mission statement calls for us to use 50 percent of our time and energy for ministry to our local area," Dyer said.
___From swimming lessons for preschoolers to day camps to literacy programs, The Center's programs are heavily geared toward outreach and evangelism, he explained.
___And those results stretch far and wide, he said, telling the story of Adrian Carvajal as an example.
___Carvajal, a resident of Mexico, was living in Waco on a visitor's visa. He began taking English classes at The Center, and the text his teacher used was the Bible.
___"He developed a lot of questions about his faith," Dyer reported. "He did not know the Lord as personal Savior. The teacher brought him to me, and we talked several times. Ultimately, he prayed to receive Christ."
___Dyer and others at The Center helped Carvajal get in to McClennan County Community College to work on a computer degree, where he excelled.
___But when Carvajal made a visit back to Mexico, he was told by immigration officials he had violated his visa and could not return to the United States.
___Dyer made some inquiries with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and discovered that Lynn Sasser, a longtime friend of his, was serving as an IMB missionary in Mexico. When he began to track down his missionary friend, Dyer discovered Sasser was working in Carvajal's hometown.
___Now Carvajal, who was trained in English by Baptist volunteers in Waco, serves as an interpreter for Sasser as he ministers among the residents of Mexico.
___"God's providence was at work," Dyer said.
___
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