MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Pastor Kevin Green shared his vision for the city during the ribbon cutting at Airborne Church in Martinsburg Friday.
Airborne, formerly the Living Room, recently moved into their new space on Creative Place off Rock Cliff Drive.
The fully functional event center is the first building on a 27 acre parcel the church owns through a donation and purchase.
Green said they have plans to grow.
“We’ve got a contract on 22 more (acres),” Green told WEPM News.” So we’ll end up with about 50 acres here, and nearly a mile of Interstate 81.”
Green envisions building a 1,000 seat performing arts center and 4,000 seat civic center on that land.
During the ceremony Green said they want the church to become a public place of influence.
“We just feel like these buildings are championing the next generation. If we can get our eyes on the next generation and raise up the kind of generation we want for the future, we can change a lot of the problems we have in our city.”
Green said he feels like that is happening now and he and his wife and fellow pastor at the church, Beth Green, are proud to be part of the change.
There’s lots of work to do, but so far Green said much of the work has been done by church members.
He plans for the future buildings to go the same way.
The location of the church campus along I-81 was strategic.
Green hopes it will put Martinsburg on the map in a positive way and get the church’s message out to more people.
“Nearly a mile of interstate 81 that our civic center will be positioned on,” He said.