By Steve Van Kooten

The Living Water Bible Fellowship Church, which sits along U.S. Highway 52 as it cuts through Guttenberg, has spent the past few months in the midst of renovating its building. And now, they’re almost ready to show off their spruced-up digs.

Interim Pastor Bob Westfall said the church will host an open house for the community on Sunday, Nov. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m.

“They gutted the thing down to the studs. There weren’t walls up [or] ceilings up, so there was no way we could use anything in here,” said Westfall.

The renovation started in late September and is expected to be complete this week. The cost for the renovation is estimated to be approximately $200,000, which the congregation footed themselves.

According to Westfall, the congregation continued to save money for the building even after it was paid off. The church used those funds to help pay for the renovation.

“That was very wise,” said Westfall. “A lot of us, when we finish a payment off, go spend the money on something else. But they were so disciplined that it made it possible.”

The Living Water Church has been around for about 18 years. The building previously housed a restaurant and ice cream shop—the current sanctuary used to be the restaurant’s dining area—and the facility always had its shortcomings.

“When they bought it, they did their best to put it in one room and make a kitchen in here—the commercial kitchen was gone—so there wasn’t a big open space. There was almost like a hallway that turned to the backroom of the building, and that’s all the room they had to mingle and talk,” said Westfall.

“It was cramped,” he added. “It wasn’t the best use of the facility for our ministry.”

The remodel gutted most of the building and included new siding, new doors for a wider entrance and new facilities.

“We’ve got a nice kitchen now, whereas before it was a hallway with a stove,” he said. “If you had been here before, you wouldn’t recognize it.”

The project also addressed issues with the building’s uneven distribution of air conditioning and heating. According to Westfall, the nursery previously had to keep an extra heater on during the cold months due to issues with the heat distribution.

In the sanctuary, they raised the ceiling height to make it more accommodating.

Legacy Construction, based in Des Moines, served as the project’s general contractor. They began work at the end of September and are scheduled to finish this week.

“They really did a good job lining up all of those subcontractors and having it scheduled out so they knew exactly what needed to be done,” he said.

Northeast Iowa Mechanical, based in Elgin, did the electrical, plumbing and HVAC work.

While construction work ensued at the church, Living Water held services at the municipal building’s auditorium.

“We knew it was available, so we asked,” said Westfall. “It didn’t cost much at all to use it... it worked out really well, and they allowed us to keep everything we needed for Sunday service up there in a hallway. So, we didn’t have to haul everything in every week.”

Services started to transition back to the church building in the middle of October.

The Living Water Bible Fellowship Church is located at 119 US-52 in Guttenberg, IA 52052.