Stone Worship Center Dedicated at Retirement Village

By Chris Moon

The Christian Village at Mason in Ohio has opened the doors to its new Stone Worship Center and Auditorium, named in honor of former Christian Standard editor Sam E. Stone and his wife, Gwen.

The 16-month construction project created a 350-seat worship center, along with a gathering space for residents of the 85-acre senior living community north of Cincinnati.

Larry Monroe, CEO of Christian Village Communities—which oversees the Christian Village at Mason and the nearby Christian Village at Mt. Healthy—said the project has raised $2.6 million of its $3 million total cost.

“I’m excited,” Monroe said. “The worship center will allow us to reach more people for Christ.”

The facility opened with an afternoon dedication service on Sunday. Among those scheduled to speak were pastors Jeff and Dave Stone, sons of the late Sam and Gwen Stone.

Sam passed away in January 2021. Gwen died in December 2015.

“I wish they both could see the dedication and be part of that,” Jeff Stone told Christian Standard.

STARVED FOR SPACE
The Stone Worship Center and Auditorium is much larger than the existing chapel at the Christian Village at Mason, which has been the home of hundreds of retired Christian ministers, among others, since its construction in the late 1980s.

The existing chapel can seat only 99 people, but that number is diminished when accounting for the scooters and walkers some residents use to attend services, Monroe said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the old chapel hosted three services a week to accommodate the demand. In-person services transitioned to online during the pandemic.

Barring some complication brought on by the pandemic, the village plans to open the Stone Worship Center and Auditorium for in-person worship services in January.

With the enlarged space, Monroe now is dreaming about the potential for new programming at the Mason facility.

“We’ve been starved for adequate space for just resident activities,” he said.

When choirs performed in the old chapel, their risers would significantly reduce the number of available seats for residents. Some people had to be turned away from those events. That no longer should be a problem.

The worship center also has a gathering space for residents that includes a coffee shop. Skylights provide plenty of natural light. Residents can use the space for informal gatherings or simply to play cards or read books.

The facility also has a catering kitchen for banquets.

‘GOD WAS WALKING AHEAD OF US’
Monroe said construction went well and was mostly on schedule. The project originally was slated for a 12-month build, but supply delays and COVID-related slowdowns added four months.

“Given some of the other stories I’ve heard relative to other building projects, . . . I’m not complaining one bit,” Monroe said.

Plus, he said, God stepped in at one point to hurry the project along.

Monroe said fundraising began in 2018, and the plan was not to launch the project until it had raised at least $2 million. But in February 2020—just before the pandemic erupted—the contractor began urging Monroe to go ahead and purchase the steel for the worship center.

It was not an insignificant decision, but Monroe relented. He’s glad he did.

Had Monroe waited until the project actually broke ground in August 2020, the pandemic would have been an entrenched reality. The steel would have been delayed, and a year or more would have been added to the project’s timeline.

The cost would have increased by about 30 percent, Monroe said.

“I just feel like God was walking ahead of us,” he said.

A BITTERSWEET OPENING
The grand opening of the Stone Worship Center doesn’t come without a tone of sorrow.

Sam Stone passed away just months into the construction project.

Stone served as a minister and as professor and dean of the Graduate School at Cincinnati Christian University for many years. He finished his career as editor of Christian Standard from 1978 to 2003.

Gwen worked beside Sam through their many years of ministry. The two were married 57 years.

After Gwen’s death in 2015, Sam became a resident of the Christian Village at Mason.

Monroe remembers first asking Sam Stone about naming the facility after him and his wife. Stone was reluctant and only gave in to the idea when his son Jeff noted the facility would be a place where the gospel would be shared.

Monroe remembers Sam Stone saying, “Christ be lifted up—not the Stone name, but Christ be lifted up.”

“From the very beginning, that was our charge, right out of the lips of Sam Stone,” Monroe said.

Jeff Stone, lead minister at Batesville Christian Church in Indiana, was at his father’s side when he passed away in January. Sam Stone had been struggling with dementia.

“We miss him every day,” Jeff Stone said.

He said he remembers being a grade-schooler and going with his father to visit a congregant at the Christian Village at Mt. Healthy. Jeff Stone said his father always appreciated the ministry of the Christian Village retirement communities.

So, what would Sam and Gwen Stone say about the grand opening of the new worship center at Mason?

“I think dad would say, ‘To God be the glory,’” Jeff Stone said. “I think mom would say, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t have put our name on it.’”

He added, “It’s going to be a great tool for the village.”

Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.

_ _ _

— SIDEBAR —

After this article was written, Larry Monroe shared one more memory via email of Sam Stone and the “godly coincidence” in having Ruth Odor as an across-the-hall neighbor when he moved to the Christian Village at Mason. Monroe wrote,

Ruth Odor was editor of Straight, a teen magazine Standard Publishing printed. . . . Ruth was a part of a team from Standard that sought out and featured outstanding teens across the nation for the magazine. Sam was the first teenager to be featured in Straight.

Several years later, Ruth and others from Standard were visiting our Bible colleges in search of future writers for Standard Publishing. On a trip to Ozark [Bible College], they were acquainted with a student with great potential; his name was Sam Stone. Ruth returned to Standard singing Sam’s praises, encouraging the [publishing company] to look at him seriously, as he had great potential. Edwin Hayden, one of Sam’s professors at Ozark, later became editor at Standard, and this surely played a huge role in Sam joining Standard.

Sam’s first job at Standard was associate editor for Straight.

. . . I think it is a “God thing” that after so many years, the two of them ended up in apartments across the hall from each other in the same Christian retirement home. I also think it is so tender that they sort of “looked out for each other” as residents at The Christian Village at Mason.

Ruth Odor was among those scheduled to speak at Sunday’s dedication service of the Stone Worship Center and Auditorium.