Las Vegas Abundant Life Church members and Pastor Calvin B. Rock welcomed local dignitaries, area churches, former pastors, former members and friends who traveled cross-country to celebrate their week-long 40th Anniversary and mortgage payoff. "We Have Come this Far by Faith” was the theme of the day.
In 1965, Isadore D. Evans accepted a call to the Nevada-Utah Conference to establish an Adventist church amidst the ever-growing African-American population in Las Vegas. A year later, after Bible studies and a tent meeting, a group of 20 members became a company, holding services in a rented house.
By 1970, led by Norman S. McLeod, the members moved into their first building and became the Highland Square Seventh-day Adventist Church. The congregation continued to grow at that location under the leadership of pastors Herman Vanderburg, 1973-79; Reynold Howell, 1981-84; Ollie Jackson, 1984-86; William Penick III, 1987-97 and Harold Goodloe, 1997-2002.
Construction on the new $800,000 facility began in 1996, and on July 23, 1999, the re-named Abundant Life church was occupied. Rock became pastor in 2002. By 2004, in keeping with Romans 13:8, “Keep out of debt and owe no man anything,” members implemented an all-out sacrificial giving plan in order to pay off the remaining $580,000 by the 40th anniversary celebration.
For the two years leading up to the anniversary, members made sacrifices on what became known as “Plunk-it-Down Mortgage Payoff Day." Much of the money needed was raised from the members sacrifice. “I accepted the challenge and gave five percent more than what I usually give for offering,” explained Gayle Ellis, a church member. “It was a monetary sacrifice, but the blessings I gained in return can never be measured.”
On the final “Plunk-it Down” day, the last Sabbath of the week-long anniversary celebration, members raised $190,000, which exceeded the amount needed to reach the payoff goal. Members gave an international intercessory prayer of thanks in six different languages representing the ethnic diversity of Abundant Life.
Highlights of the celebration included a verbal history by charter members Carlos and Nettie Buylding and a video montage of past-to-present church activities and members, plus interviews with charter members Velvet Richey, Marcia Tugwell and one of the church’s first children, Eric Morris.
The celebration closed with a banquet catered by Nevada Partners Culinary Training Center, followed by a concert featuring world-renowned vocal recording artist, motivational speaker, and pastor, Wintley Phipps.
A 60-page, full-color commemorative journal was published for the historical event. With the anniversary celebration behind them and the mortgage paid off, members are looking forward to a new challenge. They plan to renovate and enlarge the Community Service Center, which also doubles as a multi-purpose room/dining hall for the church.
