An interdenominational congregation in Georgia will soon be moving into an abandoned shopping center, after local government gave the green light.
The Atlanta-based Worship With Wonders Church, which is headed by Myles and DeLana Rutherford and has approximately 900 members, has been meeting Sunday evenings at the chapel of another church.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow Worship With Wonders to move into the abandoned shopping center, which is located off Powder Springs Road in South Cobb.
Senior Pastor Myles Rutherford told The Christian Post in an interview on Wednesday that he and his wife see their ministry as “an amazing journey,” saying that their worship services “are just completely overwhelmed and flooded by the Holy Spirit.”
“My wife Pastor DeLana and I have felt for a long time a surge coming back to the mainstream body desiring more of an encounter with God, not just typical church. People are desiring for an authentic fresh move of the Holy Spirit,” explained Rutherford.
“Last year alone, 22 people delivered from addictions, 12 people from homosexuality, gang members coming to Christ and so much more! Demon-possessed men and women being delivered.”
Regarding changes to the property, Rutherford explained that there will be much work done to the facility, including landscaping, painting, new trees, and a new parking lot.
“We will redesign the inside to work for us as a church. DeLana, who is designing the exterior and feel, is a native southern New Orleans woman so it will reflect that,” Rutherford noted.
On its official Facebook page, Worship With Wonders describes itself as a “multicultural church that thrives in strengthening communities and races together” which is “Revival Born and Relationship Driven.”
“Living a life of expectancy! Expecting God’s purpose to meet us! Expecting God’s presence to capture us! Expecting God’s power to touch us! These are not slogans, but a way of life at Worship with Wonders,” states the church.
Worship With Wonders’ planned move to the abandoned shopping center was not without its critics. Some, including Cobb Southern Christian Leadership Coalition President Ben Williams, felt that the shopping center should be maintained for commercial use.
“We’re not opposed to the church,” explained Williams in an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal earlier this week.
“Our concern is [the] $30 million [deficit] in front of us in [fiscal] 2019. That’s on the shoulders of all of us who reside in this community. That $30 million will not be a burden for ward 4 alone, but rather a burden for wards 1, 2, 3 and even our illustrious chairman. That’s what we gathered around and had concerns about.”
