Eastpoint Church relocating to old Kmart building

Eastpoint Church is busily remodeling the old Kmart at Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road into a church.

“The Dollar Store is there now, we’re taking up part of it,” said Dawn Wade, the church’s administrative assistant. “It’s got the space that we need and the price was really good.”

Currently the church is leasing space at 1445 N. Argonne Road and is squeezed into the space. The church has three services every Sunday, and people are frequently forced to stand, Wade said. “There are different classes we’d like to teach. We just have the lobby right now. We don’t have a classroom.”

Wade estimates the new location has double the square footage of the current building on Argonne. The sanctuary now seats only 250 people, and the church will be able to add more seating in the new location. “We’re ordering 400 chairs, but I think it will hold up to 750,” she said. “It kind of depends on how all the chairs fit in there.”

Wade also is looking forward to having more space for the church’s children’s ministry. “We’ve been running out of space for quite a while. We have a great location here (at Argonne), we just don’t have enough space to do what we want to do.”

Volunteers from the church are painting, putting up walls and doing other remodeling work in the old department store. “The floors are really gross so we have to clean that up,” Wade said. The project is expected to cost between $200,000 and $250,000, and Wade hopes the church will be able to move in during October.

Eastpoint is a Foursquare Church. It was planted by Life Center in Spokane 18 months ago and typically draws up to 400 adults to worship services each Sunday.

Vacation Bible school

Spokane Valley United Methodist Church will welcome children ages 4 through the fifth grade to its vacation Bible school session Aug. 16-20. The theme of the week is “Hero Quest Recruits.”

The VBS session will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Children attending the classes will be bused to the Twinlow Camp in Rathdrum, Idaho. There will be crafts, swimming, songs, stories and games.

The cost is $35 per child. Space is limited. Call the church office at 924-7262 to register or for more information. The registration deadline is Monday.