The former Sharpsville Seventh-day Adventist Church has been meeting for the last several weeks in its new building on Wheatland Road in Shenango Township.

Among obstacles the congregation had to overcome were two still-unsolved arson attempts since November.

The new building was a product of the state conference's Arise and Build Project, which visiting pastor Alex DuBee and his wife, Roxanne, were instrumental in starting. The local church was the first to be built through the program. Another church raising is planned in the Honesdale, Pa., area.

Three years ago, on May 29, 1999, the DuBees' son Joshua was one of three teen-agers killed in a car crash. The three were students of a denominational academy in Hamburg, Pa.

Pastor DuBee proposed a fund-raising project in honor of his son that was approved by the state conference. The purpose of the project was to assist smaller churches in the conference replace old buildings with new and more convenient ones. Churches across the conference collected donations, including nickels, dimes and quarters, and pooled the money to offer matching funds and low-interest loans to churches willing to pay part of the costs themselves, including the purchase of land.

The local congregation sold its building to the Sharpsville Historical Society and bought land in Shenango Township. Ground was broken Oct. 15 and building began Nov. 11.

More than 200 volunteers from conference churches and others from as far away as Michigan did the work. About 80 percent of the labor was done by volunteers, who continue to work on the not-yet completed building.

A memorial plaque to the three deceased teen-agers is on permanent display in the church foyer.

Several guests joined the celebration, including the Dubees; Raymond Hartwell, executive secretary of the denomination's Pennsylvania Conference; William Peterson, a Greenville native and assistant to conference president Michael Cauley; and Celina Worley, conference director of communications.

Hartwell preached the sermon, "You are Builders."

Shawn Shives is pastor of the local church and two others in the district -- in New Castle and in New Brighton. Mimi Prada coordinated the consecration services, assisted by Lori Weston and Roberta Anton. All three are Sabbath school teachers.

Special sacred music was provided by Mercer County Historical Society Chamber Players members Frank Stearns and Jeff and Becky Johns.

A luncheon was served following the consecration service.