BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A Union County church is building a home in Raiford to sell the 1,475-square-foot house, use the sales proceeds to pay off the debt on its worship center, and increase its giving to community causes.
Culture House Church, Inc. purchased its 5.25-acre property, formally used by Anchor Christian Fellowship, in August 2023. The land and its main building, an 8,600 square-foot structure, is near County Road 321, about one mile south of the Department of Corrections Reception and Medical Center.
The church financed the $380,857 acquisition with a First Federal Bank of Lake City mortgage.
“It’s kind of a pretty poor county’
Associate Pastor Rob Jarvis said the congregation’s primary missions focus is addressing Union County’s needs. He said the plan to build and sell the Raiford home and pay off its mortgage will allow the church to increase its giving to community causes.
Jarvis said the church already contributes to feeding schoolchildren, supporting public service workers, and other worthy causes, but the goal is to earmark 25% of its revenue for community contributions.
“We just want to do more,” he said. “We understand Union County. I’ve lived here most of my life. It’s kind of a pretty poor county. There’s just not a lot (of money available for charitable causes).”
Jarvis said the idea of building a home and then using the sales proceeds to pay off the church’s debt originated from a worship service visitor.
“He’s a contractor, and we’ve got quite a few folks that are in the contracting business in some form or another: plasterers, painters, whatever,” Jarvis recalled. “But he came to me after the service and said, ‘Hey man, with all you guys’ talent, why don’t you build a house to pay for the house? Then, you can take that $3,800-a-month (mortgage payment) and put it back into the community.’ And we thought, man, that’s a great vision.”
The associate pastor said that volunteers came forward once word got out about the idea.
“I had one contractor after another, whether it be siding guys, roofers, different things, say, ‘Yeah, I’ll help out.’ And now that we’ve got the project going, probably 75% of the contractors have done the work and just said, we’re good. We’re just going to donate it toward the cost for the county. So, it’s kind of blown us away.”
Ordinary people with everyday problems
Culture House Church grew from Jarvis’s son, Robbie, who felt the call to ministry. He started the new congregation, which met at the Lake Butler Woman’s Club for under a year before the Anchor Christian Fellowship property became available.
Rob Jarvis said the new congregation attracts many people who had given up on church earlier in their lives.
“It seems like they’re mostly in the 20, 30, and 40-something crowd,” he said.
“The basis of Culture House is relationships,” he added, “not so much— put your hand up if you’re unsaved—even though we believe in all that.”
He added that the congregation consists of business owners and prison employees—people from all walks of life.
“But I’d say probably 25% of our people have never been to church, they’re just attracted to it,” he said. “It’s just— I don’t know. “It’s just a come-as-you-are type of thing. It doesn’t feel like church. It feels more like family.”
Jarvis said practicing Catholics attend the services, as well as believers who identify as Baptists and Charismatics.
“It’s just a mixed culture,” he said. “Another church might call it interdenominational or nondenominational.”
Walker Starling, 19, said a friend invited him to Culture House a few months ago when the congregation was just beginning to come together.
Growing up in Baker County, he attended Catholic and Southern Baptist churches before moving to Union County.
“In the churches I’ve been to in Baker,” he said, “there’s less unity and more judgment between the people that you don’t even realize. And at Culture House, it’s just like family.”
He added that a new young adult group the church started, and he meets with, is refreshing in its openness and honesty.
“It just causes a lot of vulnerability between everybody,” Walker explained, “and it just allows you to be more comfortable with the people who you’re with. And, I don’t know, it is less of a religious group and more of people who just have a relationship with Christ, and that’s what we’re bonding over.”
Focusing on Union County needs
Jarvis said the congregation does not support foreign missions at this point, not because members think missions are wrong but because the church has prioritized supporting Union County’s needs.
He added that the congregation, with members employed in the school system, public housing agencies, nonprofits, and other professions, is aware of the community’s needs.
“They’ve got their hands on the pulse of the schools,” he said of his members. “We’ve got a deputy at the sheriff’s office, so he’s making us aware of communities and areas that are hurting.”
Jarvis said the church seeks to help ordinary people deal with the everyday problems in their families.
“They may not have a money problem,” he said, “but they may have a relationship problem or a marriage problem.”
Second home planned
Jarvis said the church purchased two lots in Raiford, between the post office and State Road 16 in August. Volunteers broke ground on the three-bedroom, two-bath in November, and the foundation, siding, and roof were complete by Christmas. The associate pastor thinks the home will be on the market by the end of March.
He added that because the housing market has softened since the church first pondered the idea, it will have to build a second, smaller home on the other lot to pay off its mortgage.
Jarvis estimated that around seven contractors have contributed $100,000 in materials and labor to the project.
