Works continues on Palmyra church

Work is progressing on Mission Hill Baptist Church's new facilities.
The congregation broke ground May 11 for a new sanctuary, school and daycare to replace the building destroyed in a Feb. 7 arson fire.
Kindergarten through 12th grade students are taking classes at Cornerstone Baptist in Hannibal and preschool and daycare kids are housed at First Presbyterian in Palmyra while construction continues.
Mission Hill pastor the Rev. Ken Lewis said that construction of the 22,000-square-foot school and daycare center should be done after the first of the year. Work will then start on the 20,000-square-foot sanctuary, which should be finished by fall 2009.
A wet summer and fall have set back construction of the $2 million project just east of the former church site along Main Street on the south side of Palmyra.
Worship services during the summer were held at a pavilion on church grounds.
As the weather turns cooler, the congregation will go back to Palmyra High School on Sunday mornings and the Presbyterian Church on Sunday evenings. Once the school facility opens, services will be held there.
A 15-year-old former Mission Hill student admitted setting the Feb. 7 fire. In March, he was committed to a state treatment program.
Funding for the new facility has come from an insurance settlement and a large number of donations.