By Diane Smith
Record-Courier religion editor
ROOTSTOWN -- A new "Biblecostal" church has been established in town, and its pastor hopes to reach out to the community.
"We want to be a uniter," said the Rev. Chas Pierce, pastor of Freedom Faith Chapel.
"We're non-denominational on purpose. We're looking for greater opportunities to work with other churches in the community."
Pierce, 39, and his wife, Tonya, 38, recently moved their church to a building at 4454 Tallmadge Road.
The church, which grew from a Bible study in the Pierce home, met Sunday evenings in a hotel conference room in Brimfield before the current site became available.
John and Lillian Denning, owners of the building, recently rehabilitated the structure. Over the years, the Pierces were told, the building served as a night club, drive-through and a church.
The church was planted by Faith Chapel Ministry in Bethel, Ohio, which is pastored by James and Connie Taylor.
Pierce, who works as a machine repairman at Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, was previously a youth pastor. When he and his wife, who does day care in her home, decided to plant the new church, they decided they needed more education.
So they decided to arrange Bible training for themselves -- and six members of their congregation.
A teacher comes up once a week to work with the group, giving them pastoral-level training.
When the training course is over, each member of the group will have the equivalent of a two-year, college accredited degree.
The church has services at 6 p.m. Sunday nights and 11 a.m. Sunday mornings, with bible fellowship for adults, teens and children at 10 a.m. Pierce describes the church as "Biblecostal," because members believe in both the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fundamentals of the Bible.
The church has established a men's ministry and a women's ministry, which operates a food pantry. Pierce and his wife offer marital and family counseling.
"We're interested in fellowship," he said. "We're not only interested in building the kingdom, but also in building fellowship," he said.
Recently, members have made efforts to reach out to the community through servant evangelism. One Saturday morning, they went to a restaurant in Rootstown, handing out free newspapers and buying breakfast for people. The "mission minded" congregation will host a missionary at a future service.
"We are a kingdom-minded church," he said. "We focus on the kingdom of God and spreading the gospel. I guess when God motiviates you to do something, you don't have to question it. We know that when we act on it, God's going to bless it."