1 / 8

Cindy Blanchard sings during the opening of a Bible study class at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

2 / 8

Worshippers sing during a Bible study class at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

3 / 8

Vicky Henderson, the wife of Pastor Tim Henderson, talks about how the Lord has blessed her during the past week during the introductory part of Bible study at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

4 / 8

Integrity Christian Fellowship recently relocated from a location in downtown Ogden to a newly renovated building in Riverdale, but lost a large portion of their congregation in the move; in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

5 / 8

Wes Boggs, from Clearfield, follows along in his Bible while Pastor Tim Henderson discusses Mark chapter 3 during a bible study class at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

6 / 8

Pastor Tim Henderson discusses what it means to keep the sabbath day holy and the extremes that some can take that to while reading from Mark chapter 3 and Luke chapter 6 during a bible study class at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

7 / 8

Pastor Tim Henderson discusses what it means to keep the sabbath day holy and the extremes that some can take that to while reading from Mark chapter 3 and Luke chapter 6 during a bible study class at Integrity Christian Fellowship in Riverdale on June 28, 2016.

ROBBY LLOYD/Special to the Standard-Examiner

8 / 8

Pastor Tim Henderson deals with the real possibility of losing his church that he serves at. The Integrity Christian Fellowship Church has a chance they will have to close their doors for good. In Ogden, on May 14 2014. (Brian Wolfer Special to the Standard-Examiner)

❮ ❯

RIVERDALE — Adversity has brought the Integrity Christian Fellowship Church congregation together.

Members of the non-denominational church say they wouldn’t have willingly gone through the trials brought on by having to move two years ago from Ogden to Riverdale, but they are counting their blessings as they continue to grow together.

In June 2014, the church had to close its 4,000 square foot brick building on the 2200 block of Madison Avenue in Ogden. The church was to be torn down in preparation for the New Bridge Elementary School opening this fall.

Now, the church is located in an 8,000 square foot brick facility at 4763 S. 1150 West in Riverdale. Leaders and members said they couldn’t be happier with how their congregation of about 18 has evolved.

“Our trust in God is through the roof,” said Pastor Tim Henderson. “When we come together, we have a great time. We know that God will come through.”

Henderson said he wouldn’t wish the experience of being told the church had to move on anyone but that the result was worth it.

“I wouldn’t change it because it gave us a greater faith in God and it drew us together,” Henderson said. “It’s one thing to preach about faith in God and to live through something where that’s the only thing you have to hang onto. It made us a better church — stronger as individuals with our faith in God and stronger as a church with our faith in God.”

Henderson said the congregation had to move to the Riverdale building in July 2014 in just two days as they worked around his family obligations.

RELATED: Leaders of Integrity Christian Fellowship upset about lack of moving options

Somehow — with the help of his aging congregation — Henderson said they were able to move the church quickly, but without a good portion of the former members.

“We lost everybody that was over in the area we were,” Henderson said of his former 38-member congregation. “Nobody followed us from there.” 

At it’s lowest point, the church had 10 members. 

Problems started again in October 2014, Henderson said, when Riverdale city officials said they’d have to stop meeting in their new church until the building could be brought up to code.

Henderson said the church was changing the use of the building, which had been a furniture store. Because of the change, city officials told him the congregation would have to bring it up to current codes.

Because the building was deemed unsuitable, church members had no choice but to meet in each other’s homes from October 2014 through January 2015, Vicky Henderson, the pastor’s wife, said.

This arrangement continued until the church was invited to meet in the building of the North Park Foursquare Church in February 2015. The congregation moved its meetings to Sunday afternoons, after the other services held in the space ended.

Vicky Henderson said the two congregations formed a deep friendship.

And during that time, construction was ongoing and expensive.

Tim Henderson said $36,000 alone went into a long railway and ramp allowing for wheelchair accessibility.

The inside upper floor of the building, he said, was problematic because swamp coolers were leaking and a heating and air conditioning unit needed revamping.

“We found that we had to tear the walls apart,” Tim Henderson said. “We thought we might as well do it all and do it our own way. It got us to the place where we had to take everything out.”

Ten church members — most of which are well over the age of 40 and some even in their 80’s — in August 2015 worked together with contractors in demolishing, hauling away and cleaning the upstairs of their new church house. Members and friends removed 32,000 pounds of material from the church, Tim Henderson said.

“We did what we could,” Cindy Blanchard, 59, said. “God just pulled us together and gave us the strength that we needed to get done.”

The remodeling effort began in October 2014 and was completed in March.

The downstairs of the building was not repaired and is not usable as church members will wait until the church can afford to do more remodeling.

The congregation started meeting again in their new home in April.

Carrie Garcia, who joined the church about a month ago, said she couldn’t ask for a better church home.

“We noticed that everyone is nice and sweet,” she said of herself and her husband, Tony. “They were very welcoming and friendly.”

She said she instantly felt like she’d joined a new church family. “They made you feel comfortable,” she said. “We enjoy a small congregation.”

Tim Henderson said while the members are happier, his church is not over the adversity caused by the school district taking their building away two years ago. But he is optimistic.

He said the church is now even with what it had before losing its Ogden building, but they have no bank account because of all the trials they faced with the building.

“Before, we were able to help other ministries, able to send missionaries. Right now, we are not able to do that,” he said. “We haven’t been this low financially since the first two or three weeks that we started our church.”

He said he doesn’t want to paint a picture that the church is mad or bitter at anybody because they are not. But he doesn’t want to say the change has been without trials, either.

”This totally changed us financially,” he said. “We were a little church that was sewing into other ministries, reaching out to our community. Now we can’t afford to do that.”

Moving and change aren’t new to the church.

When it first started 21 years ago, members met at the Traveler’s Inn in Layton which later changed to Comfort Suites. The church was asked to leave so the hotel could use the conference room where the church met to serve breakfast.

The congregation then met at Lindquist Mortuary in Clearfield for seven years before moving to their previous chapel in Ogden.

Now, the congregation hopes it has found its forever home and an opportunity to become something even greater.

“The story hasn’t been told yet,” Tim Henderson said. “It’s not the end. In this new location, if the church grows and more people come, it could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.”

The public is invited to attend Sunday school at the church at 9 a.m. Sundays. Worship follows at 10:30 a.m. Bible study is held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays.

You may reach reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228. Follow her on Twitter at @JaNaeFrancisSE or like her on Facebook.