VIDALIA &045; The benefits of a newly renovated building are obvious at the First Baptist Church office and education complex on Texas Street.

Neat and well-organized spaces have provided the pastor and associate pastor proper places to work and reflect, and office managers are set up to operate day to day in a more efficient manner than in the old nursery rooms that had been converted into offices across the street.

What’s more, the upstairs classrooms provide young church members with a place for their Sunday school meetings, a place they can call their own.

A bedroom suite on the main floor gives the visiting counselor a comfortable place to stay overnight and a private place to meet with individuals and families during sessions.

And yet the most important benefit of the fresh new space may have been simply in getting it done, said the Rev. Gary Nunn, pastor. &uot;I can’t tell you how overwhelming the participation was,&uot; he said, describing the wholehearted support of the congregation in the total makeover of the building.

The church, corner of Hickory and Texas streets, had purchased the property across the street from the main building in the 1970s, utilizing for a while the apartment building on the property. &uot;The building was in terrible need of repair, and we finally had to stop using the facility,&uot; Nunn said.

A committee looked at options, brought in consultants and came up with the idea of creating an office complex with education space upstairs.

The congregation agreed in March to go forward with the project, with the idea that church members could help with much of the work.

That plan enabled the church to borrow less money and to know that all they borrowed could be repaid within a year.

The dedication of the refinished building was Sept. 21.

&uot;Church members did most of the destruction. We had contractors do the structural work, but even for some of that we had members who could do it. We did all the sheet-rocking of the walls and then hired someone to do the finishing,&uot; Nunn said.

&uot;Dan and Patsy White were here every day, instrumental in so much of it, doing all the wiring for the phones, computers and cable,&uot; he said, adding that he hesitated to name names because so many people were instrumental in the project’s success.

Mike Harrell, chairman of buildings and grounds for the church, also was at the site almost every day, organizing and supervising along with others.

&uot;We also had a tremendous response from merchants and suppliers,&uot; Harrell said. &uot;And the city provided us a waste disposal right here on site.&uot;

At the dedication, &uot;an amazing number of people were running up and down the stairs, and the building didn’t shake or quiver a bit,&uot; Harrell said, smiling and expressing pride in the workmanship.

More than 125 people took part in the refurbishing of the building. They ranged in ages from 8 to 82, Nunn said.

And many unable to work on construction helped by bringing sandwiches and other foods to the people on the job.

Two months in the building have shown the usefulness of the new space, said the Rev. Dan Glenn, the church’s associate pastor.

&uot;This has allowed us to go from four combined youth classes to six age-specific classes,&uot; he said.

&uot;We had our youth spread out all over the church, and now they have a floor all their own.&uot;

Glenn said both the functionality of the office space and the new look of the neat brick building with attractive faSade help to make the church more accessible to the community &045; a big plus, he and Nunn agreed.

&uot;We are more available to people. They don’t have to come into the church to find us,&uot; Glenn said.

Meanwhile, church members look toward another project in the main building, where the old offices will get some updating as classrooms.

&uot;We just had a high attendance Sunday with 382 people,&uot; Harrell said. &uot;If the church continues to grow, we have to expand the kingdom of God. I know the church is not the kingdom, but it’s important.&uot;