More than a year after a blaze brought their facility to the ground, the Mormons of the Lansing Michigan Stake are back at home.
Members of the Mormon stake in East Lansing had been continuing their work in Lansing and Holt while the 24,500-square-foot building at 431 E. Saginaw St. was reconstructed.
A stake refers to a community of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the building where they meet and worship. The area covered by the Lansing Michigan Stake extends to Owosso, Olivet, Jonesville and Williamston and is made up of about 3,300 people from 11 wards, which are similar to congregations.
About 900 people who worship in the Lansing Stake were relocated to other area wards.
"How lovely is the dwelling place of the Lord," about 35 choir members sang Thursday afternoon in their new worship space which will house its first service on Sunday.
"These walls should be filled with the praise He deserves," said Patricia Brown, a choir member and Perry resident.
"Music invites the spirit - it's a personal way for us to thank our Heavenly Father."
Everything in the stake is new, except for two pictures, two flags and 3,000 bricks that were salvaged and constructed into an arc around the flagpole. A third picture was sent to the East Lansing Fire Department.
"We were so grateful to them," Public Affairs Director Cheryl Haddock said.
The fire was determined to be arson, Haddock said.
Stake members said even though they were thankful for the new building, their work would continue regardless of where they were housed.
"The building is a nice place so you can all be together, but there's a still-great need for our programs, so they would still go on," said Dolores Hall, Stake Relief Society president.
A relief society is a group of women of the church dedicated to service projects and growing in their faith.
The new stake is much like the old building that was constructed in 1965 and has a sanctuary with improved acoustics, a gymnasium with a full-sized basketball court and a family history center.
Stake members emphasize they're open to people of all religions, pointing out that nearly one-fourth of the people who use their genealogy center to trace their roots aren't Mormon.
Rebuilding the $4 million stake was swift, because members had the support of all 12 million Mormons worldwide, President Bruce E. Dale said.
"Our finances are centrally located, so we had support and resources available all around the world," he said.
The Lansing Michigan Stake Center will hold community open houses from 4 - 8 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
