A Dream Realized

It started in the fall of 2019, a short seven months after becoming the pastor of Chokoloskee Church of God.  

Wanting to send a message to the communities of the Ten ThousandIslands, it was decided that we would modify the name of the church to Chokoloskee Family Church of God. The members at that time loved the name change as it reflected who we were, a family church where everyone would be welcome and those who came were treated like family. And as I would always say to our church family during Sunday services, family sticks together.  

We also began to talk about building a larger facility that would accommodate our growth and serve as a shelter for our island during future hurricanes. That meant we would need to build high enough to not be flooded and to have a Generac system that would power the air conditioners during extended outages. The only problem with our dream was that we had no money to build. But I reminded our congregation that God was bigger than our dreams and if it were His will, it was His bill. Shortly after we began praying for God to make a way, I was introduced to a person who took an interest in what we wanted to do.  

This individual offered to pay for our project and thus began a multiyear journey which included a year lost to covid in 2020. After a three-yearrollercoaster ride with Collier County, multiple meetings for permits and zoning, we were able to finally break ground in the fall of 2023. What was supposed to take up to 12 months to build took over two years. But like a woman who forgets the pain of childbirth when the baby is born, we have finally arrived at the big day!  

On Sunday, February 8,at 10:00 AM, we will have our first service in our new church! The old church will be renamed The Thomas J. Wells Family Life Center in honor of Pastor Wells, who built the building in the late 1950s. It will become a multi-use building, for use as a Children’s Church on Sunday mornings, a youth center on Wednesday nights, and when we have dinners,it will serve as a fellowship hall.  

The old building seated 100 until we added 21 more chairs in 2023. The new church building will seat 160 with room to add an additional 20-40 chairs. We are excited to have a church that will continue to serve the communities of the Ten Thousand Islands. Having been an integral part of the Ten Thousand Islands for over 110 years, we look forward to being here for another 100 years, doing what we do best, sharing the love of God, working with those who have addictions, and making disciples. We look forward to what God has in store next for our church, Chokoloskee Family Church, and forthe communities that make up the Ten Thousand Islands! See you Sunday, February 8,at 10:00 AM, Chokoloskee Family Church, where faith and family come together.