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A fire at the church.

"Your first reaction is, you go numb," said the Rev. Jay Lambeth of St. Paul Presbyterian Church on Old Chapman Street.

More than three years after the mechanical fire led to the destruction of the sanctuary of the 50-year-old church at Christmas 2005, the journey back for members will culminate in Sunday's dedication of a $1.3 million building.

Although the fire was contained to the pulpit and choir area of the church campus, according to the Greensboro Fire Department, heat and smoke damage caused significant problems to the remainder of the sanctuary.

The fire, which caused an estimated $750,000 damage, started in a humidistat located in a piano.

The sanctuary, in a building separate from the education wing, fellowship hall and church office, had to be torn down in March 2006.

"One of the most gratifying things was how fellow churches pitched right in to help us," Lambeth said.

Members said they also saw signs of God's presence despite the calamity - the Christ candle in the Advent wreath did not melt, for example, even though it was covered in soot, and the four candlesticks surrounding it did from the intense heat.

They gathered on Sunday mornings in the church fellowship hall, once the church's first sanctuary, using donated items from churches in Greensboro and beyond - ranging from hymnals and choir robes to the communion table and baptismal font.

The journey itself began with the older congregation, which no longer makes up the surrounding community, asking itself - Should we move? Can we sell the church?

The ensuing decisions, especially in light of today's economy, proved to be good ones. The thought of buying land and building on top of it as the real estate market slowed, for example, was daunting in relations to cost.

"At first we were dreaming," Lambeth said of the blank drawing board for land the church already owned.

The proposed sanctuary would have lots of glass and lights, they discussed. Members also wanted to replace the pipe organ that had been destroyed.

"As things developed, I could see cost was getting out of hand," Lambeth said. "We said (to the architect), ‘What do you think it would take to build ‘this,' and it was well over $2 million."

The church task force reconsidered even the pipe organ.

"It would have cost $200,000 more," said Lambeth, the church's former minister of music before being asked to pastor the church. "We went with an electronic one. Later ... we can always upgrade."

Now there are touches of light and glass, but not enough to reflect the price tag for what was initially considered.

"Our biggest concern was to keep the church out of debt," Lambeth said. "We in effect had them go back and start over. We just had to face reality and say, ‘This is nice and you included things we talked about,' but we just didn't want to saddle the congregation with debt."

There were distractions and pauses along the way - well into the project the general contractor died. The on-site foreman went to work for the church, overseeing the subcontractors.

Those who now enter might notice a few changes in the layout - and there are little things to fix, such as complaints that the lights are too low - but the essentials are there, Lambeth said. And it was all done with the insurance proceeds.

"While it's not the fanciest thing in the world, it's worshipful," Lambeth said. "I continue to say a church isn't the building, it's where people come together."

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com