ISSAQUAH, Wash. - After a morning of award winning music and fiery sermons, Kathy Proff kicks back to relax in her new favorite café, and through it all, she hasn't yet left her church.
"The coffee is great, really, really good, and the scone is out of this world," she said
She's living the vision conceived by Eastridge Church leaders eight years ago, to construct not just a church building, but a church home.
"I like the fact that its comfortable, I like the fact that its welcoming. A lot of people say it doesn't look like a church, it looks like a lodge," she said.
Over the weekend, thousands of people attended dedication events at Eastridge Church's new facility, which includes everything from cushy chairs in front of 45-foot-tall stone fireplaces for adults, to an indoor play zone with tube slides for their kids.
"The total package is $24 million," said Lead Pastor Steve Jamison.
That includes a remodel to turn their old church into student and community center.
"There are also folks saying the poor could have been fed with this money," said guest Pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr.
But he goes on to call the new Eastridge Church a place of prayer, pardon, principle, and prosperity.
"How much is one person's life worth? asks Pastor Jamison. "We're making a long-term commitment to this community."
Rather than a monetary investment in a building, church members see their new home as an investment of faith in peoples' lives.
"It's not a burden, it's a joy, because we're seeing so many peoples' lives go from broken and hurting to total turnarounds," said Pastor Jamison.
Eastridge Assembly of God began from humble beginnings from three families who met in a storefront to the new 1400 seat auditorium.
The new facility is 72,000 square feet on a 20-acre campus in Issaquah.
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