Oregon pastor seeks to build world’s largest cedar log church
Pastor Joe Wardlow is preparing to build the world’s biggest wooden church because God gave him a mission.
“About 15 years ago, my wife went to a Bible study,” he told The Christian Post. “I was at home reading my Bible, and after I got done, I went into prayer. That’s when the Lord spoke to me to do this church.”
Wardlow’s website says that God told him to build a log church big enough to fit 800 people somewhere on Beavercreek Road in Oregon City, Oregon. The money would come through online funding and from donations by corporations.
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The church will be called Trail’s End Log Church.
Construction on the church has not yet started. However, Wardlow has designed extensive plans for the church’s layout and worked to raise funds. He estimates that the project’s full cost will be $19.7 million.
Wardlow is now fundraising the $2.6 million required to purchase the property where he plans to eventually build the church.
“Well, it’s been about 14 years that the Lord gave me that vision, but He didn’t open the doors until the last few months, so we’ve just started it,” he explained.
When completed, the church will be the biggest log church in the world, he said. It will be made of Canadian cedar.
“[There are many] verses in the Bible that mention cedar. David built a prayer chapel all out of cedar. That’s where the Ark of the Covenant was in,” Wardlow said. “[Cedar is] God’s favorite tree.”
Wardlow is working with a diverse board of leaders to build the church. They include an Ethiopian missionary, a major in the U.S. military and a retired Lutheran pastor.
The board’s work together has been very successful, he said. The properties, contacts with log construction companies and property availability have all come in their time.
“Everything seems to just click, click, click, click, click,” he said of the process. “I’m just doing what the Lord wants to do, and He keeps opening up doors.”
The church will have multiple floors and buildings, according to Wardlow’s website. It will seat 800 and include a basement, high school and junior high classrooms, a prayer chapel and an administration building, he said.
“It’s a big deal,” the lay pastor declared.
The property on which Wardlow plans to build the church once belonged to Columbia Christian College, which planned to build a church there, he said.
“It wasn’t me. It was the Lord doing this,” said Wardlow.
