Bangor - It's a week into construction on Ohio Street.

Since Pastor Kirk Winters opened The Rock Church doors in the fall of 2005, everything seemed to fall into place.

"We grew quite quickly. In two and a half years, we had 750 people coming to this little building," said Winters.

A welcomed growth, but one that required more space.

"We weren't able to maintain that in this small building, so ended up doing Brewer," asid Winters.

They began service in the City Center on North Main Road.

A few years later, they wanted to expand there. It wasn't approved by the city because of zoning issues.

The Department of Justice is now investigating the zoning and land use practices for churches in Brewer.

The owner of the building is also involved in a lawsuit against the city.

And Winters was left back where he started.

"With the denial of the building expansion in Brewer, we pulled all of our congregation back here in Bangor," said Winters.

The biggest issue was still space for the growing congregation.

The answer came after a call Winters made to one of its members.

"Pastor Kirk called me and asked about proceeding with the existing building. We really realized that probably the most feasible thing to do would be to build a new building," said Robert Perry, owner of Robert Perry Builders.

It's a process he couldn't be happier to be a part of.

"It actually gives me a great deal of satisfaction to be a part of the church, come up with some of the ideas about how the building will be laid out and being able to go ahead and get myself involved with the actual building project," said Perry.

After withdrawing legal action against the city of Brewer, Winters is focusing his energy on opening this church around Christmas.

"No hard feelings towards Brewer, but I think ultimately this is going to work out better for us. We feel very blessed to be apart of the Bangor community and it's just been a great ride," said Winters.

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