For the past three years, church leaders have been actively searching in Gilroy for a better location, but with no success.

"Either Gilroy land was unavailable, prices were too high or there were no vacant church buildings that met our needs," said Jim Fennell, a member of the moving committee.

Some months ago, Morgan Hill's Shadow Mountain Baptist Church decided to move worship services to a building on their school's Monterey Street campus. Negotiations were recently completed between the two congregations, opening the way for Trinity Bible Church to rent the newly vacant church building at 280 Llagas Road in Morgan Hill.

Trinity members have been working since September to meet the logistical challenges of this move. Timelines were created, inventories were conducted, rooms and furniture were color-coded, volunteers were organized for packing, and a fleet of 15 trucks and dollies were recruited to ferry furniture, books, supplies, musical instruments and other items the 10 miles between the old and new church buildings.

Members are very excited and anxious to help with the big move, said Sonia Wykoff, the Trinity administrator. She points out that although the actual amount of square footage differs little between the two facilities, the new campus offers many advantages because it was designed as a church originally.

- There are more separate rooms.

- All the rooms have normal ceiling height, which is more conducive to a church classroom environment.

- There is a baptistery for performing total immersion baptisms indoors.

- There is a complete kitchen for hosting events.

The first worship service will be held in the new buildings at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, and Holy Communion will be celebrated. Childcare will be available in the nursery for infants through 36 months. Children's church will be provided for ages three through fifth grade.

Trinity Bible Church has served the South County community for 21 years. In 1988, a group of 12 families began meeting in a home and called the Rev. Robert Achilles to be their pastor. Another family owned a building in Gilroy and generously leased it to the church for $1 per year the following year.

As the congregation continued to grow, TBC moved in 1991 to an industrial building on Tomkins Court, where members performed 90 percent of the renovation and alterations.

Worship services were actually held outside in the parking lot for two Sundays while waiting for city approval of occupancy. Several years later, an adjoining section of the building was leased, and members also performed that build-out.

In 2001, after 13 years of service, Achilles retired to the position of Pastor Emeritus. TBC's current pastor, the Rev. Manuel Pereira, has a physics background and comes from a career as a science and technology professional at IBM in Silicon Valley. After moving to Gilroy with his family in 2003, he became increasingly involved in teaching programs at the church. When Pastor Vaughn Park left Trinity in 2006, the congregation asked Pereira to become his replacement, despite the lack of a ministry degree. He is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at the Master's Seminary concurrent with his ministry at the church.

Trinity Bible Church has a full schedule of services and activities for the whole family:

- Sunday: Sunday School (9 a.m.), morning worship (10:30 a.m.) and prayer service (6 p.m.).

- Thursday: Awana (Bible centered activities for ages 3 to 6th grade), youth ministry for junior-senior high.

- Friday: Nursing home service, home Bible fellowships.

- Saturday: Men's breakfast.

There is also an extensive music program with choir and orchestra.

For more information call the church at

(408) 842-1220 or visit www.TrinityBibleChurch.org.

Chuck Flagg Chuck Flagg is a retired teacher with a passion for religion. Reach him at cflagg@svnewspapers.com.