Stow agreed to serve on an interim basis until the congregation calls a permanent pastor.
The idea to form a new indepedent Christian church in Danville arose from informal discussions Kendall and other independent Christians in the area had been having.
"Danville only has a couple of independent Christian churches (Indian Hills and Second Street) and the congregation at Indian Hills fills the building, so several of us just felt Danville needed another (indepedent) Christian church," said Kendall, who was raised in an independent Christian church, attended Baptist churches for a while, and then returned to his "home" denomination.
Scores of people joined the move to form a new independent Christian church, and Kendall and other organizers and leaders arranged to hold services at a karate hall in Danville. Growing attendance forced the leaders to find a larger meeting place and that's when the church moved to the fairgrounds.
In the meantime, a Danville doctor has allowed the church to use space in his office for some Sunday school programs for younger children.
Looking for building
"We're looking for a building that we can pretty much call our own, and we have an eye on one in the area of 84 Lumber that we think will meet our needs, at least for the time being," he said. "We need a place that is not only big enough for worship services but also has space for Sunday school and youth programs, choir rooms and offices.
"We also need to stop moving around and find a place that we can use for the foreseeable future. People get confused when it seems their church, or whatever place they go to regularly, keeps jumping around from one place to another, and confusion will turn off members."
The plan, at least at this point, is to lease the building near 84 Lumber, then purchase it, according to Kendall. He and other leaders also are thinking about having the building serve dual purposes.
"It would be ideal that one day we can afford constructing our own church building, but even before that happens, a lot of us would like to have the building serve as a youth center for the community," said Kendall, who, with his wife, Donna, has two daughters.
"Kids in Danville really need a nice, safe, wholesome place to hang out.
"We'd like our building not only to serve our congregation but also our community."
Other signs of Rising Son's development as a church includes the creation of a music program for worship services, said Kendall.
"We now have a youth leader and a music leader and a drummer, and someone in the congregation has donated a set of drums," he said.
Elections to come
Soon the congregation also will have official lay leaders to direct the affairs of the church. Election of deacons and elders will be held at the end of the month, said Kendall.
"It really is great to be able to develop a new church, another place where people can worship Christ and develop their relationships with Him and give their lives to Him so that one day they can be with Him," he said.
"In a way, every church is a temporary church because the idea of going to church is to get to our permanent home in heaven."
And constructing the highway to heaven has been an "exciting" and "joyful" experience for Kendall.
"God has blessed us real good and we want to repay Him by building the best church we can to serve Him."
