By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Lomax Assembly of God is building a new facility for youth and children.

The Max Center is being built beside the church and will have children and youth rooms for services as well as an area for socializing filled with pool tables, ping-pong and other games.

“We’re having to build the Max Center out of necessity because we’ve outgrown all of our children’s facilities and all of our nurseries and youth center,” said Senior Pastor Jeff Calhoun. “It sort of took us by surprise.”

The church plans to finish this state-of-the-art facility as the funds are raised, according to Calhoun. The church borrowed the money to lay the foundation and build the frame, which is estimated to be complete near the end of October. The work on the interior of the building will be done by the church using raised funds.

Members of the church built much of the church’s main facility with their own labor, and the plan is to do the same with the new addition.

“We saved several hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Calhoun. “We want to do the same thing here to be the best stewards of God’s money that we can.”

Calhoun said the church focuses on investing its money into ministry and missions, so it raises money for projects like the Max Center as needed. The church will not be the only group benefitting from the new building.

“We have some things planned for community usage,” said Calhoun. “We’re looking at possibly doing an after school program. … We’ve got a lot of plans with this building.”

The new facility is being constructed on the church’s property at 17580 US Highway 31 in Clanton. To learn more about the project or how to make contributions, visit lomaxag.com or visit the church’s Facebook page.