By Stacey Henson, News-Press.com (Florida).
Church elder and artist Deborah Fransway lays on her belly in an unfinished sanctuary, black Sharpie in hand, writing the Gospel of John on the concrete floor.
As she works, a reader gives her snippets from each passage of the NIV Bible used by the New Hope Presbyterian Church.
“When he had finished praying,” Johnna Gracik, of Fort Myers, said, pausing to allow Fransway to catch up, “Jesus left with his disciples …” Fragment after fragment, Fransway spends about two hours a day on the project she began Thursday, filling in a grid about 8 feet by 10 feet.
When Pastor Eddie Spencer preaches behind the lectern July 17 — a service of thanksgiving for the new 20.2-acre campus — the holy words will be under his feet, hidden under the tile flooring.
“He will stand on the Word of God as he delivers his message,” said Dan Miller, a building committee member.
“It’s a wonderful way to praise God,” Fransway said.
The congregation has been planning the building for more than a decade. The church split with the more liberal-leaning Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2008 and moved services down the road, renting another McGregor Road church. As part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the members bought the property on Plantation at Colonial Boulevard in 2010, beginning construction in August.