From hotel to new home: Life Assembly Church finds location on West Walnut

Life Assembly Church has found a new home on West Walnut Street. After holding its services in the Double Tree Hilton Head Hotel, located at 211 Mockingbird Ln., for two years, the church has bought the previous Legal Aid of East Tennessee building to make it its new dwelling place. Jon Fontanez, lead pastor of Life Assembly, considers the circumstance a miracle from God. "We came into the acquisition of this property after being patient and just waiting on God's direction and timing," Fontanez said. Though the church has been holding its services within the hotel, Fontanez said it used to have a location behind the Hyundai dealership in Johnson City. However, after much prayer, he and other members of the church's leadership committed to selling that location and becoming a mobile church. "With the sale of that property, the church was able to invest that money from the proceeds of the sale," he said. "We were previously on the extreme north end of town, so we relocated down here where we felt like God is positioning us to be a little bit more strategic in the harvest field." Fontanez said while being in the hotel has worked so far, it has its challenges, such as the fluctuation in attendees, setup and take down of needed equipment and lacking a space for groups within the church to meet consistently. Finding a new brick-and-mortar building for the church was important because of the amount of people it would help reach. "Just to have a base of operations, a place, a locale that's stationary in the community – I think that's huge," he said. "Even right now, while we're waiting on renovations to be finalized…there are so many people that come into this parking lot that I'm connecting with, and we're not even having services here yet. To me, that's a huge thing that God, I think, is going to use for the church to reach different individuals for whatever they're dealing with." Jon Fontanez is the lead pastor of Life Assembly Church. OLIVIA PERRY/SIX RIVERS MEDIA The renovations Fontanez mentioned were taking down walls within the building to clear a 2,800 square foot space for an auditorium, as well as clearing room for the church's commons area. He said they will also be adding new carpet squares and polished concrete flooring, an outdoor commons area, raising the ceilings, painting, getting a new roof and creating a play area for the children of the church. Choosing the building for their location is also something Fontanez credits to God. He said his church's offer on purchasing the building was considered alongside three others and ultimately ended up being accepted, giving the church an offical site while being in a central area to reach people. "When we looked at this property, we just sensed God was like, 'Yeah, this is it. This is what you need,'" Fontanez said. "That's the main thing that led us here. As I drove by while we were still in the looking and considering phase…I did a prayer drive [and] I did a prayer walk, and as I did that, more and more, the Lord was like, 'Look at the possibilities here. Look at the souls that could be gathered into my kingdom here in this space.'" Fontanez said with all the renovations needing to be completed, he hopes to have the doors open by the end of June. In the meantime, Life Assembly will continue to hold services at the hotel. For Fontanez, he said he's most eager about how many people will be reached and taught about Jesus. "What excites me is the possibility of people getting saved," he said. "People in the altars receiving whatever they need from Jesus."