Church to move across the street

LEBANON, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Lebanon church is packing up and moving, but not too far away: it's moving right across the street.

The Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church rests along Beaumont Highway in Lebanon.

It's a labor of love for Kurt Bender. His father helped rebuild the Lebanon church after the Hurricane of 1938 and now he leads the effort to move the Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church next to their new Fellowship Hall, across the now busy street.

"Now they're going 40-50 miles an hour and it's right in the front here, right where we cross," said Bender.

The church has been lifted up onto the bed of a truck, which itself sits on cribbing to raise it up above the basement.

"They're old wheels and everything and an old truck, but these guys know what they're doing," said Bender.

It's ready to roll come Wednesday morning once the utility lines are dropped. The total cost is approximately $60,000.

"We do it through pledges and donations, and any donation is welcome," Bender said laughing.

Parishioners save money by doing a lot of the work themselves.

The church is going to be backed down a ramp and then brought into another area, which will eventually become the basement of the church. It will stay on the truck until steel supports are brought in, the church is raised, and the rest of the building is built around it.

"Why move this building, why not just build a new church," asked News 8's Tina Detelj.

"If I could take you inside you'd see," Bender said. "It's really beautiful inside. The woodwork is all oak."

Preserving the past, while they roll into the future.