I've seen old church buildings as antique stores, video stores, community centers, office buildings, even houses. In the news today are several related stories about the issue of what to do with an old church building or one in need of serious repair. Among all the ideas, I think there are some good ones.

Church as museum

According to the Brownsville Herald, a Brownsville, Texas church in need of renovation sought to partner with local government and use the building as a museum. But negotiations between the county and the Diocese of Brownsville failed this week and the fate of the Santa Maria Catholic Church remains unknown. The diocese doesn't want to spend money that is sorely needed elsewhere on the reparations.

Wedding gifts and eBay help rebuild hurricaned churches

A couple of Mississippi newlyweds are proving more generous in their desire to repair churches damaged by Hurricane Katrina. According to The Sun Herald, the couple has asked wedding guests to save their cash on gifts and donate instead to the restoration of the St. Thomas Catholic Church in Long Beach, Miss., which was decimated by the hurricane.

A Muncie, Ind., Methodist church is also jumping on the generosity bandwagon to help hurricane victims. According to the Indianapolis Star, the church will donate funds raised from the sale of their old building at auction on eBay (pick up only). At last check there were more than 40 bids on the property and the listing was the lowest on the page of similar offerings. The auction ends Oct. 27. The bidding Oct. 19 was still less than $20,000.

There goes the neighborhood

In a new twist on literally building community, a large Colorado church planning a huge new complex is considering turning its old campus into a neighborhood. According to the Longmont Daily-Times Call, Denver-based investors have proposed turning LifeBridge Christian Church's current Longmont church campus and adjacent fields into a 360-acre neighborhood, complete with a convention center, movie theater and shopping district to partially fund their project east of the city.

Ironically, that is nearly the same thing the church is proposing at a new site: a 313-acre religious campus, Project LifeBridge, that would have hundreds of homes and apartments, four parks, community meeting rooms, a theater, senior housing, assisted-living and nursing facilities, parking garages, shops and offices.

Big church to become another big church

And the biggest news, at least in terms of church attendance numbers, is the news that Lakewood Church has sold its former building (Remember Joel Osteen moved the flock into the former Compaq Center in Houston in July, 2005.) to New Light Christian Center Church for $15 million. According to the Houston Chronicle, the sale should be completed by spring.