For 11 years, The Bluff Church of Poplar Bluff held its worship services in the rented ballroom of the Holiday Inn. That situation changed Oct. 10, 2021, when they held their first service at their new building at 7082 Highway 67 North.
The church began in 2010 when Doug Osborn and Dave Elledge had a vision of a church for people who had given up on church or who might have felt nervous about going to a church for the first time. They discussed the idea, prayed on it and met with others who had a similar vision. There were 23 people in that group, but they had no church building.
Elledge and Osborn set about to find a location to meet.
“We got in the car and drove around looking for a place,” said Elledge. “We drove by the Holiday Inn.”
He did not think that stopping would be productive. Osborn disagreed.
“Let’s stop,” he insisted.
Inside they had far more success than expected. The Holiday Inn surprised them by agreeing to rent the ballroom for an amount within their budget.
The congregation began meeting at the Holiday Inn every Sunday. They modeled their worship services on those of a mobile church. They had a set up team that would arrive early and set-up lighting and sound systems and a tear-down team that took everything down once the services had concluded.
A sign outside near the road announced the church’s presence within the Holiday Inn.
After five years, church attendance had grown to over a hundred members. The congregation looked for a permanent location but did not find anything that suited them. They did not lose heart, though.
“A building doesn’t make a church,” Elledge said. “We had the idea that if God gives it to us, fine. And if He doesn’t, fine. We never really thought that He was leading us anywhere.”
In 2018, Osborn moved to a church in Orlando, Florida. A year later, Pastor Mason Powell joined as teaching co-pastor.
In the summer of 2020, the opportunity of a 15,000-square-foot metal building was brought before the church. The congregation talked and prayed, and made an offer that was accepted.
The building was far from complete. The congregation set about the work themselves and it took nearly a year for them to be able to move into the building. That work is still not done. They have bathrooms, a sound system and lights but no internet or carpet.
“It has been a project of love,” said Elledge.
When asked how it felt to have that first Sunday worship in the new building, he replied, “I was exhausted!”
He had been up past midnight the night before getting ready.
He did admit, “I shed a few tears.”
Elledge would like everyone to know that the environment at the new church building is casual and services start at 10:27 a.m. every Sunday.