Death of one church means the resurrection of another

VIRGINIA BEACH

This fall, members of Salem Baptist Church found themselves property-rich and pocket-poor.

Their building and a 7-acre tract were worth $4 million. But they were just 13 adult congregants - too few to keep up the 15,000-square-foot church or afford a pastor or pay off a $190,000 mortgage.

They did the math. Then they did the right thing.

This month, Salem handed over the keys and their entire property to Essential Church, an up-and-coming 8-month-old congregation of more than 120 members. The church is on Ware Neck Drive near Salem Road.

"In the interest of God's ministry, we decided our way wasn't working and Essential was doing well, so let's give it over to Essential," said Mike Sammons, Salem's lone deacon.

For the Rev. Steve Swisher of Essential, it was an uplifting coda to the resurrection of his own congregation, which faced near-insolvency a year ago.

"At the rate we were losing money as a church, we'd be at zero balance and we'd not have any money for rent or anything," he said. The church was renting space in a public school.

Both Salem and Swisher's congregation had struggled over the past few years, said Mark Custalow, a strategist for the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. Both churches were part of the SBCV.

In Swisher's case, his leadership team decided to close down under the church's former name, New Hope, and relaunch as the Essential Church.

Salem saw more than 100 Christian conversions and 48 baptisms over the past four years.

While Essential's new launch succeeded, Salem's fortunes ultimately dwindled.

Neither outcome seemed strange to Custalow, who said various factors cause church ups and downs.

"Sometimes those variables are beyond their control and many times creep up without you knowing they exist," he said.

Sammons said high turnover among congregants in the military and the bad economy hurt Salem's viability.

He described Salem as "established, mainline Baptist." Essential, in contrast, downplays denominational identity and strives to be cutting-edge with video, stage lighting and guitar-driven music.

Essential members are now renovating the ex-Salem building in preparation for a Jan. 10 kick-off service. A few Salem families are attending Essential, which will pay off Salem's mortgage.

For Swisher, Salem's gift seems as biblical as the story in Deuteronomy when God leads his people to a promised land that has houses they didn't build and wells they didn't dig.

"We are living out this verse right now," he said on Essential's Web site.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com