COLUMBIA, S.C. — A local movie theater in the St. Andrews area in Columbia will transform into a church.
Spotlight Cinema, a low-cost theater focused on second-run films, closed down weeks ago, and now Elevation Columbia will be moving into the space.
Elevation Church has been hosting non-permanent services for the past six years, where they would hold their Sunday service in the University of South Carolina's Pastides Alumni Center in downtown Columbia. But they didn't have a sanctuary, which meant they had to set up and tear down their setup every Sunday.
By purchasing this theater, however, they hope to have more permanent roots in the community.
"We are a family, and we want to be that for people," said Taylor Shytle, the campus pastor at Elevation Church. "I believe that as we are in the area with permanent roots, then people can grow up with us together, and we can grow together."
"We have a church that is heavily dependent on volunteers, so there are a lot of people that have served a lot of hours and put blood, sweat, and tears into this, put a lot of efforts and obedience and sacrifice, so this is really huge for us," Shytle said.
Armando Fabila is the owner of a local restaurant in the area. He said a new church nearby would be beneficial for his business. "Sundays are pretty busy for us; it's pretty much all day," Fabila said.
Fabila said his business has grown as more people move to the area.
"They help us a lot, keep us in business and help keep our families together," he said.
Shytle said he and the church are excited to call this area their new home.
"We're open to the broken, we're open to the hurting, we're open to the happy, we're open to the joyful," Shytle said. "This is the church that you can truly come as you are, not just the way you look, but come as you are from the inside out."
Church officials said they hope to open their doors at this new property this October.