New Worship Center Springs Open

Mountain Springs Church officially dedicated its new 1,000-seat worship center tonight with an evening of prayer, music, and much enthusiasm.

"Wow, this is big," said one congregant as she walked down the aisle. And the new worship center is indeed large: not New Life Church big, mind you, but big enough to serve one of Colorado Springs' largest and fastest-growing churches. Mountain Springs, led by the Rev. Steve Holt, has an estimated 3,500 members now -- half of them, by the looks of things, under the age of 12.

An eclectic group of spiritual leaders came to help inaugurate the new building, headlined by U.S. representative Doug Lamborn.

"It's great to see a place where God is so obviously moving," he told the packed sanctuary.

Paul Stanley, an elder at New Life Church, thanked Holt for Mountain Springs' support the past three months, in the wake of the fall of the Rev. Ted Haggard. He told the congregation that New Life is on the right track again.

"God is doing a new work in that big place," he said.

Mountain Springs Church still has some celebrating to do. In a couple of months, according to Holt, the church will open another 30,000 square-foot addition, dedicated to children's education.