The Stony Knoll CME Church in Mill Spring, N.C. will launch a much needed, and long awaited, renovation project this April, and is currently lining up volunteers and donations to make the project a reality.

Rev. Johnny Searight, pastor of Piney Ridge CME Church in Union Mills, is the driving force behind the project. Having been invited to preach one Sunday this winter at Stony Knoll CME Church off Fox Mountain Rd., he realized to his surprise that the church had no bathrooms. Nor did it have central heat and air, modern electricity, handicapped access, insulation or energy efficient windows.

Church members have to arrive several hours ahead of time to light the propane space heaters to get the church warm enough for services, said Rev. Searight.

“And in the winter, you can feel the cold blow right through the windows,” he added.

Mothers with children and the elderly have to walk down a hill to another building to use the restroom, he said.

The present church was constructed in 1945, according to documents provided to the Tryon Daily Bulletin by its pastor, Rev. Arbutus “Arby” Hines, on the same site and replacing a frame building that was built in 1912. The church’s founding dates to the 1880s when worshippers gathered at that vicinity under a “brush arbor.”

Built of individually-molded block some one foot thick and fashioned by the men of the church at a block mill owned by one of the trustees 70 years ago, the 1,200 sq. ft. church is simple and functional. But Revs. Searight and Hines, together with the congregation, feel that now is the time to bring the historic church up to date.

Searight estimates the materials for construction will run $45,000 – $50,000 to install a septic system; build an 800-1,000 sq. ft. addition containing a vestibule, two bathrooms and a pastor’s study; construct a ramp for the handicapped; renovate the heating, cooling and electrical systems; re-roof and insulate the entire building; and replace the windows.

Rev. Hines has started a Stony Knoll CME Church building fund account at Tryon Federal/Home Trust Bank for anyone wishing to contribute to the project. Rev. Searight has volunteers from his Union Mills CME church ready to assist, but asks for more Polk County community volunteers, especially those with knowledge of the building trades. He plans to break ground in April, and has an “ambitious but not impossible goal” to finish in six months.

For details on the construction timeline or to volunteer, contact Rev. Searight at 704-472-7962, 704-434-9710 or johnnysearight@yahoo.com. For details on the building fund or for more information about Stony Knoll CME Church, contact Rev. Hines at 828-458-2108 or arbutushines@windstream.net.