True Deliverance Holiness Church was established in 1998 in Auburn, Alabama, by Pastor Nolan Torbert with support from faithful dedicated members.
The church’s vision is to empower God’s people by unlocking the vast potential that is in every individual by teaching and preaching the word of God. The mission is to serve individuals and families by providing various opportunities to build strong families, youth, and communities through outreach ministry.
As a whole, True Deliverance is a “changing hearts and destinies ministry.”
The construction of the Changing Hearts and Destinies center will be a hub for those outreach ministries of the church, which include marriage ministry, single ministry, youth ministry, women’s and men’s ministries, education and college ministry, and health and medical ministry.
The new outreach center will house many classrooms and two computer labs for afterschool programs, GED programs, and community engagement; a gym for community gatherings, activities, and sports and fitness; and a food pantry that will serve the surrounding community.
Brian O’Neil, president of Third Lens Ministries, met Bishop Nolan Torbert through one of his staff members several years ago. He had gone through a planning exercise through a few of their members and an architect years before, with the vision of having a community center that would provide essential services to the neighborhood and surrounding community, but they had gotten stuck.
Third Lens met with the church and immediately recognized that they had great vision and had the resources to get started pretty quickly. They combined the efforts of Tom Rhodes, who specializes in church architecture, donating his services pro-bono.
They began to collaborate with a design team that included Pursuit Engineering (who provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services pro-bono) and Lecraw Engineering (who donated their civil engineering expertise). From there, they set out on a journey to plan the project.
Then COVID hit, and they took a pause for a time. Bishop Torbert was inspired to make sure this project happened, so construction began during COVID.
It went well, ultimately building a 10,000-square-foot community center with a basketball court, offices, classrooms, and a commercial kitchen for serving food to the community.
The Holland–Seales construction team did a phenomenal job, finishing the job a month ahead of schedule (which is uncommon).
Abel Electric, the electrician on the job, donated a generous amount of time and materials toward the project.
Eric Oust and Oasis Heating and Air also provided a discount on the project.
Because of these generous donations of services and materials, they were able to build the building in the face of inflating prices…on budget and ahead of schedule.
The CHAD Center is actively being used to impact the surrounding neighborhoods, hosting large events to bless their community.
Third Lens Ministries is changing how construction projects are built in the non-profit world, www.third-lens.org. The Third Lens platform connects its network of architects, engineers, real estate and construction professionals with strategic partners and organizations in need of facilities.
