Looking over U.S. 71, the small, white building stands out in Bella Vista. It's one of the few existing structures that predate the creation of Bella Vista Village in the 1960s.
It has been used very little in recent years, but now, hymns are once again being sung in the Dug Hill Community Building.
Country Harvest Church is meeting in the old building while the church looks for a permanent location. But Steve Christians, one of the organizers of the new congregation, says it might be a year before they move on.
"We're a country church; we're not fancy," he said.
His group will probably try to locate in a rural area somewhere near Bentonville or Pea Ridge. So far most of the church members come from those two cities, he said. But anyone is welcome at 10 a.m. for Sunday services, he added.
The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Association, he said. It has been meeting for a year and a half in a private home but outgrew that space.
It's not easy to get a new church started, Christians said.
"You want to see it explode overnight, but that doesn't happen," he said. The group has been working with a church planter from the Southern Baptist Association. A church planter helps new congregations establish themselves.
Christians said he has a friend who went to church in the Dug Hill location when he was younger. The friend knew the building was empty but ready for use.
Ralph and Virginia Squires run the association that oversees both the community building and the cemetery behind it.
"The building was empty, so we were glad to have someone in it," Virginia Squires said. The church group is helping with utility bills for the building.
The facility has been used for special occasions in recent years, and the youth group from Village Bible Evangelical Free Church met there for a while, she said.
According to the Bella Vista Historical Society web page -- www.bellavistamuseum.org -- the building was built as a combination church and school in 1936. It was used as a school until the rural districts were consolidated in 1945. Since then, area children have gone to school in Bentonville.
The name came from the first log church built on the site in 1868. There was no road to the building, and the hill was so steep that steps had to be dug out of the hillside so walkers could reach the building.
Religion on 10/01/2014