After 11 months of uncertainty, Pastor Steve Fish is ready to do what he loves in the building his congregation calls home.
In Aug. 13, 2012, a fire swept through Saskatoon's Faith Baptist Church, causing about $700,000 in damage to the east-side structure on Munroe Avenue. No one was hurt.
Investigators traced the fire back to a trail of flammable liquid that ran throughout the building, and said the fire was deliberately set. To date, no one has been charged.
Fish and his congregation held services outdoors, and were forced to find other meeting places, but they are ready to return to Faith Baptist Church this weekend.
"It's overwhelming," Fish said. "I've actually come in this room and no one is here and it brings tears to my eyes because it's so much more beautiful than it was and it couldn't have happened if the fire hadn't happened. So, in the long run, that's what we consider the blessing of all this."
The grand opening of the Faith Baptist Church is on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. CST.
"There have been a lot of up and downs," Fish said. "I feel like that horse that is about to get on the race track and you know, they're just buzzing inside. That's the way I'm feeling right now."
The Sunday morning service will be followed by food and entertainment in the afternoon. The Faith Baptist Church Youth Choir from Odessa, Texas will perform at 7 p.m. CST.