THIS IS US:
celebrating
50 years of god’s faithfulness
the history of portico community church
1980s
this is us: the history of portico community church | 1980s
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Table of Contents Introduction
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1980
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1981
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1982
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1985
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1986
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1988
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1989
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Credits
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this is us: the history of portico community church | 1980s
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Introduction ROOTED IN GRACE AND TRUTH Rooted in grace and truth, a church family of 550 was decidedly “all-in” to church life as they entered into a new decade of groundbreaking expansion. Pastor Fred & Micki Fulford rallied the congregation to undertake the church’s biggest endeavour to date: the building of a new 42,000-square-foot facility on Barbertown Road. By the mid-80’s, attendance continued to grow significantly, nearing 800 on Sunday mornings. Sensing God’s timing for change, the Fulfords bid farewell. The church opened their hearts to welcome Pastor Ken & Shirley Birch and under their leadership embraced a five-year plan placing greater focus on missions, evangelism, diversity, and the arts. Through it all, God continued to bless the church with strong leadership and a congregation dedicated to Christ.
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1980 The congregation had grown from 100 to 550. This prompted plans to sell 2460 The Collegeway and purchase a 4.5-acre parcel of land on Barbertown Road in Mississauga to construct what would be the largest evangelical church in Mississauga.
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Not many years after moving into the church at The Collegeway, we realized the building was not able to accommodate the growing congregation, so we decided to purchase land and build.” – Dave and Bev Graham
The Fulfords, Grosshans and White turning sod for the new church
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We had been looking at many different sites, then one Sunday Pastor Fred changed pulpits, and when he was there, he met a real estate agent who was looking to sell a site not yet on the market. That week, we came over to the site as a board, liked what we saw, and ended up buying the facility.” – Dave and Ruth Croft
Breaking ground at the newly purchased site
this is us: the history of portico community church | 1980s
At the construction site on Barbertown Road
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1981 The 2460 The Collegeway property was sold to Salvation Army Corps. The congregation held regular services at Erindale Secondary School as construction began of the new church on a 42,000 sq. ft. facility. On September 13, 1981, the congregation met together at the construction site. Standing under open rafters, 400 people gathered to hear project updates, worship, and pray for God’s continued blessing. The congregation held their first services at the new church building that December, five days before Christmas. Despite setbacks and unexpected delays, God’s blessing and faithfulness was evident. The construction project was completed on-time and on-budget with an overall project cost of $2.1 million.
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“I remember the excitement of moving into the new church building. Somehow, I got roped into painting a faux stained glass window to cover the baptistry until we could afford the real thing. I believe I enlisted friends to help, and the paint fumes were so intense that we surely lost brain cells in the making. That thing hung at the front of the church for quite a few years until we finally managed to replace it.” – Karen Graham
Gathering under the trusses to worship and pray
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1982 The evening of February 19, the congregation gathered for a jubilant celebration at the Annual Church Banquet where special recognition was given to Pastor Fred and Micki Fulford for their ten years of faithful leadership. Saturday, March 6, friends, family, dignitaries and neighbours gathered at an open-house event at Mississauga Gospel Temple to visit the new facilities, followed by an official church building dedication on Sunday. Pastor George Grosshans resigned in June to accept responsibilities with the Missions Department at the PAOC International Office and Pastor Gerry Johnson joined the staff shortly after as Associate Pastor.
Newly completed 42,000 square foot church facility
Invitation to the grand opening of the new church
March open-house and dedication of the new church, with Mayor Hazel McCallion
News article about the MGT dedication
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1985 Pastor Fred and Micki Fulford, sensing God’s leading in a new direction, resigned after having served for nearly 14 years.
Fred and Micki Fulford and family
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1986 Ken and Shirley Birch accepted the invitation to become the Senior Pastor of Mississauga Gospel Temple, more commonly referred to as MGT. God continued to bless the church with attendance averaging 800 on Sunday mornings.
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In that time, the hairdos were big, the dresses were very flowery with lots of ruffles. What people wore was big in every sense of the word. At church, you dressed in your very best.” – Enn and Silvia Martin
Church choir in front of the baptismal tank in the Worship Centre
Annual performance of Come Celebrate the King
this is us: the history of portico community church | 1980s
Ken and Shirley Birch
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1988 The congregation put together a five-year plan that included an increase in lifestyle evangelism, ethnicity in the congregation, focus on the arts, missions giving, and short-term mission teams, as well as a larger vision to church plant in east Mississauga.
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My hope was that we would grow new campuses, to reach into the community, not just as a group but as individuals in the church – that we all would make an impact wherever we were.” – Wade and Fiona Steyn
Men’s events at MGT
Crusader’s children’s program
this is us: the history of portico community church | 1980s
Youth trip to Circle Square Ranch
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1989 Evon Horton joined the MGT staff as Assistant Pastor.
Pastor Evon Horton (right) leading a marriage ceremony
Eleanor Parkinson, secretary for Pastor Fred Fulford, Ken Birch, and Evon Horton for 13 years, folding the last bulletin by hand upon MGT’s purchase of a new folding machine
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SPECIAL THANKS TO: SENIOR PASTOR
Doug Rhind EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Amitabh Singh WRITERS
Bethany Talbert Doug Rhind GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Jabelle Micu Christina Cook LOGO GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Christina Cook Joan Stoddard RESEARCH TEAM
James Craig/PAOC Archives Amitabh Singh Paul Woodley Nancy Woodley Danielle Sawh Helen Aello Beverly Graham David Graham
SueAnn Fennelly Chris Atkins Ronald Jacob Silvia Martin STILL PHOTOGRAPHS
James Craig/PACO Archives Paul & Nancy Woodley Enn & Silvia Martin Gabriel & Dianne Sawh Denise Peltomaki Helen Aello Terry & Melissa Bone Colleen Clark Evelyn Degazon Joan Morin Marg Salamat Barb Parkinson Gord & Rollande Jones Jerry & Marlene Bergman Bill Dupley Hana Elzohiry SCANNING OF PHOTOS
Juliet Nakamura SueAnn Fennelly
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OUR MISSION
Helping people find their way back to God! CAMPUSES
CONTACT US
Brampton 7585 Financial Drive (inside École Jeunes Sans Frontières) Brampton, ON L6Y 5P4
Milton 45 Bruce Street (inside Milton Christian School) Milton, ON L9T 2L5
905.826.9612 info@porticocanada.ca porticocanada.ca
Español 1814 Barbertown Road Mississauga, ON L5M 2M5
Streetsville 1814 Barbertown Road Mississauga, ON L5M 2M5
SOCIAL MEDIA Follow us on Instagram
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PORTICO Community Church Follow us on Twitter
@PORTICOcc
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