For decades, the old McCraw's Hardware store on Mill Street served as a gathering place for local residents.

However, since the store closed a few years ago the building has been left vacant and its age beginning to show both inside and out.

But the Broad River Baptist Association believes the building still has a lot of life in it, as it plans to restore the old hardware store for use by the community to bring souls to a personal relationship with Jesus.

The association purchased the building a a few months ago with the purpose of it being used to eventually house a church for the county's Hispanic population. This project has been on the hearts of the organization's directors for almost seven years as the members of the congregation have been meeting at Cherokee Avenue Baptist Church.

"They have been meeting at that location for close to seven years," Harley Morris, a board member of the Broad River Baptist Association said. "But with this recent acquisition, I feel the church is rounding the corner in terms of having its own defined role in this community."

The congregation, which is under the leadership of Pastor Flor Morales, has been a work in progress for those in the Broad River Association, with several month being devoted to finding a location and more time to secure funding.

"There was a need for a place that was centrally located along with being suitable for the ministry economically," Donnie Padgett, director of the Broad River Baptist Association said. "We wanted to make sure that this was done without putting a large debt on the project to begin with."

A large amount of the organization's budget was spent purchasing the property, with the association's 63 member churches chipping in where needed.

But according to Morris, there is still a lot of work to be done as he hopes the community can become involved with this ministry and its goal of spreading the Gospel to the masses.

"There are plenty of upgrades and renovations necessary before the building becomes usable for worship," Morris said. "We still need funds for roof repair, paving the parking lot and replacing the windows along with other things."

Fortunately things are already looking up for the church, which was helped immensely when another church donated a number of pews.

"That is already a sign of the Lord making a way," Morris said. "We want to give the Hispanic population a nice place to worship, doing so to the glory of God. With the direction of the Father, and financial as well as labor support by the community, this goal can become a reality."