The Villages Daily Sun

FRUITLAND PARK — Motorists whip past at 45 miles per hour, most oblivious that the “Phillips Used Cars” sign is a misnomer. But taking a closer look, one might notice the small, thigh-high signs that read “Temporary Home of Lady Lake Church of God.”

Jubilant music poured through the glass walls into a lot that was once filled with cars for sale. Inside, the congregation clapped their hands and raised their arms and voices in song.

Some could not contain their ecstasy.

With palms raised toward the heavens, their voices united for their Lord on Palm Sunday.

Their church may have been destroyed by the Groundhog Day tornado, but their spirit remains powerful.

“God is just so uplifting and he carries you through all the storms in your life, and I’m just praising him and loving him and drawing him close,” said Paul Countryman, a 25-year member of Lady Lake Church of God.

After the tornado, the Rev. Larry Lynn noticed the empty building at 3320 Highway 441 in Fruitland Park and immediately called his old friend Larry Phillips to ask if his church could hold services there.

“As soon as he called Mr. Phillips, God had already worked on his side and (Larry Phillips) said, ‘I was hoping that’s why you were calling me,’ and it was just like a done deal,” said Susan Lynn, Larry Lynn’s wife. “God has prepared it on his end and prepared it on our end, and we just feel it’s a godsend. It’s exactly where we need to be.”

Phillips has just opened a new dealership two miles north of his old showroom that almost triples the size of the latter, which he has owned for 29 years.

He just thinks it’s good timing that he can help the church, though he doesn’t want his generosity showcased.

The church has felt “a lot of deep appreciation and gratitude,” said Larry Lynn, and despite the creative quarters, the members’ spirit is just the same.

Plum-colored chairs squeeze together on the speckled white floor, a rectangular room with walls of glass. Chairs fill what once were glass-walled offices, making room for a large congregation.

A projector salvaged from the rubble beams lyrics onto a screen on the corner of the stage as a powerful choir leads the people in melodious praise.

A husband and wife hold hands as they raise them in song.

Eyes cast toward the ceiling see more than the white tiles crisscrossed violently with black lines.

Brenda Ammons, the church’s minister of music, agreed with many congregation members that it’s “different” holding services in a showroom. Nonetheless, she said, it’s wonderful to have this space because the church that survived the storm needs somewhere to worship together.

“To know that we have a place to call our own, words can’t express that,” Ammons said. “I’ve known of churches that have been in situations where they’d have to tear down every service and then put back up and tear down and put back up, and that wears and tears on the flesh. But to know that this is a secured place, that we can come in here and everything is going to be in place, we don’t have to worry about it.”

Countryman agrees. Although the traffic through all the windows can be distracting, she admits, she feels grateful to Phillips. The church has been creative turning the space into a sanctuary, she said, and church is more than just a building.

“If we’d never had a space, we’d have pitched a tent and done it down there,” Countryman said. “There’s no stopping us. No, we’re going to praise God whether we have a building or if we don’t. It doesn’t matter.”

Plans have been drawn for the new church, Susan said, and with help from Lady Lake, it should be built in about a year. It will be twice the size of the old church, seating 600 people and with 200 parking spaces, she said.

What Ammons has learned through this experience is no matter what, God is God, and it doesn’t matter where services are held. The church’s spirit will transcend any location.

“When you get a group of people in here, you know, yeah it was a showroom,” Ammons said. “But when you get a body of believers to come together, and they come in here for one purpose and that is to worship the Lord, and you know we’re the body of Christ. … And when all those come together, how can you not feel love? How can you not feel warmth?”

Alexandra Lundahl is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9071, or alexandra.lundahl@thevillagesmedia.com.