Sonja Alcock | Nov 15, 2012


Perseverance begins with a vision, and a vision begins with a dream, and a dream begins with an idea. Pineview was an idea -a dream and a vision of several people who were not satisfied that Cloyne and area did not have a Free Methodist church. Because of this spiritual reality some members of Cloyne who gathered together first in Vennachar Free Methodist Church, then moved to the Barrie Township Hall in 1965 under the leadership of the Rev. W.R. Lohnes, knew there was something lacking in this community to meet their spiritual needs and the spiritual needs of our community as well.

This small group of devoted Free Methodists had great faith. The original members were, Aileen Ball, Wilma Brownlee, William Brownlee, Allan Kay, Donna Kay and Marjorie Wise, and faithful others who were committed to the cause.

One day the treasurer noticed an envelope marked "Building Fund" with $5 in it, and stated, “We don’t have a building fund.”

Allan Kay responded, “We do now.”

That was in 1969, the beginning of Pineview Free Methodist Church. The next step was to find a piece of property and purchase it. A piece of crown land was selected - 330 feet at $2 per foot, which came to a whopping $660!! There was a down payment of $25 placed on the table. The Ministry of Lands and Forest wanted it paid in full and a building to be built within two years.

A 10-year mortgage of $51,000 had to be taken out. In June of 1971 they turned the sod, which was 40 feet further south than the original plan had stated. The architect and builder wanted to save a pine tree on the north side of the property, so the building was moved. Within a few years lightning damaged the tree (more of this significance later).

They held their first service on the third weekend of November 1972!

Then came another vision.

Mr. Allan Kay had faith to see what the future could hold for Pineview. He knew God had bigger plans for Cloyne and our local area, for He never ceases to have ideas, dreams, and visions of what Pineview “could be”. Once again plans were drawn up, and once again money was being placed in a building fund account, accumulating until it was needed.

Over the years whenever anyone suggested making changes or improvements to the existing church, Allan Kay would be heard, "Wait until we build our expansion.” Some became frustrated until one man said, ”What’s stopping us from building? ... Let’s get started.” Bruce Kellar picked up the baton and ran with it! There was no slowing him down once he got hold of it.

In 1995 the church began to raise funds for the expansion. There was already $155,000 in the building account and it was estimated it was going to cost a little less than $350,000 to build. They obtained a mortgage of $176,000 to enable them to begin building in the fall of 1999!

Originally it was thought that this money was only enough to build a shell. But by the time they had finished they had built the whole expansion project.

In January of 2000 they were able to hold their first service. The volunteer work hours helped to reduce the cost of the hired contractor, who declared that the people of the community and church were so efficient that they managed to get more done than anyone had ever expected.

Now let’s go back to the pine tree and the lightning story….

When it was first decided to build an expansion most of the plans were for the south side of the existing building. Then one design came in that suggested building to the north! Never before had anyone thought of going north, yet north was the ultimate site to build on. So if the original church had not been moved south by 40 feet they would not have been able to build the expansion that was needed. God knew what needed to be done, and had been in all the details all along.

In September of 2011 the mortgage was paid in full!!

Now Pineview is looking to what God has in store next. He has something awesome planned, for His word tells us in Jeremiah 29: 11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will see Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

This year, on November 17 & 18, Pineview will be celebrating 40 years of being a Free Methodist church to the people of the Land O’ Lakes area. Everyone is invited to join the celebrations on Saturday, at 7pm and again on Sunday at 11 am for a time of worship, music, and a much celebrated mortgage burning! Hope to see you all there.

 

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