FRANKLIN
The Threshing Floor Church will open its doors to welcome all people into the kingdom of God when worship begins locally this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Melvin O. Jiggetts, the pastor, describes the place as a non-denominational, spirit-filled, Christ-centered church. His emphasizes the first part of that description because he believes the kingdom “reflects everyone. White-only, black-only, Hispanic-only — it doesn’t operate that way.”

Speaking about the second and third parts of church, Jiggetts noted that getting help from secular sources “only goes so far as as a government allows. But relying on spirital means, “you will become unlimited.”

Further, Jiggetts said he wants the Threshing Floor to be, “Another remedy to people who are hurting…to get people who are lost.”

He also wants the church to give relief to the poor and help with healing racial divisions among people.

“A neighborhood is only as effective as the church that serves it,” he said.

Although the pastor has a vision for expanding the kingdom, his start in serving God was a modest one. After service in the Marines, Jiggetts was at one time a stand-up comedian out West during the 1990s. During a routine he had a revelation, but didn’t just stop then and there to accept a calling.

Sometime later when Jiggetts was back in his home state of Virginia, he felt the need the growing. One day, he looked at his wife and said, “I have to go into the ministry.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said.

From there Jiggetts began studies in earnest, and he went on to become a licensed and ordained Baptist preacher in 2002. He established The Rock Church in South Hill four years later. Then the family came to the Hampton Roads area in 2010 and began the first incarnation of the Threshing Floor Church with just one person as a congregant meeting in a Chesapeake library.

But Jiggetts said, “The Lord increased us,” adding that as membership grew, the church moved around to a YMCA and then to an adult care home where, he joked, “You had to be at least 80 to be a member.”

Later partnering with another church, the congregation got a home at an old Methodist building in Norfolk.

In addition to regular services, Jiggetts came to host the radio program, “Alive,” and the television ministry, “The Walk.”

“The Lord led us here,” he said about being led to establishing another church this time in Franklin. “The people are calling us here, and we want to be here. Twenty, 25 to 30 people are expected to move with us here.”

Even before the first service, the pastor has already outlined some programs for the next few months.

The Love Letter conference will take place Feb. 11-13 at 7 p.m. Marriage and relationships will be the focus. Brunswick stew will be prepared and sold in March, and a golf tournament is planned for April.

The Threshing Floor Church is located at 1315 Carrsville Highway in the Airway Shopping Center. To learn call the office 653-9272 from Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

A Wednesday Night Life takes place at 7 o’clock. A Biblical seminar is scheduled for the fourth Sunday of each month at 7 p.m.

You can more visit www.godspower.org or Facebook@The Threshing Floor Church of Franklin.