ALLEGANY, N.Y. — Over the past seven years, Pastor Sean Obergfell has watched his congregation swell from a small group of people to 550 members who now attend three separate services to fit comfortably.
For that reason, Obergfell and other leaders of Believers Chapel at 2522 W. Five Mile Road in Allegany, hope to acquire the larger Premier Banquet Center at 2000 Constitution Ave. in Olean.
Obergfell and Premier owners, Paul and Lisa Marra, are seeking a variance through the Olean Zoning Board of Appeals to zone the building for church occupancy. The Marras, through representatives at a recent Zoning Board meeting, indicated they have have been trying to sell the property for two years and are suffering hardships with mortgage payments on the property.
Zoning board officials have stated they have up to 62 days to make a decision on the variance. Obergfell said the larger facility is needed by the church to alleviate the crunch for space during services at 9 and 10:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sundays.
“We’re at a place where it’s hard to grow when your rooms are full,” Obergfell explained.
“We’re in a great place as a church, a great place as a community and we need a bigger building.”
Obergfell, who works as a part-time police officer for the Village of Allegany Police, had been a full-time police officer for Olean City Police years ago. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Bible study, he founded the non-denominational church for people of all faiths in May of 2009. The first services were held in the living room of his former Olean home.
Obergfell, lead pastor, and youth leader, Seth Snowden, are full-time employees at the church. There are also five part-time employees.
“We’re huge on families and marriage, our children’s ministry has been 80 and 110 kids a week,” he calculated. Obergfell and his wife, Rene, of 23 years, also have children — Carter, 18, Olivia, 16, and Ethan, 10.
Obergfell said church members hail from Allegany and surrounding communities that include Olean, Portville, Bolivar, Hinsdale, Cuba and Bradford, Pa. College students from St. Bonaventure University, Jamestown Community College in Olean and the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (Pa.) also attend.
“It’s a large draw from a younger crowd,” he continued. “We have very young families in age, we’re really able to meet this generation.”
Worship services are accompanied by contemporary Christian music with guitars, drums, keyboards and vocals.
Obergfell said they considered purchasing the building while inquiring about renting the property for Christmas services this year. During that meeting in September, Obergfell and his wife informally discussed purchasing the building, built in 2003 for $1.5 million, from the Marras.
Since that time, the church has had an architect draw up plans for renovating the building and have secured finances for the purchase.
“We’d love to renovate the building for children’s rooms and the sanctuary,” Obergfell continued. “We would keep this (current church) building for special events.”
While the Premier property would be taken off the tax roles if sold to the church, Obergfell said he believes the benefits of its presence in the community would outweigh drawbacks.
“We really feel a church that is really growing is very beneficial to the community” both morally for families and youth and financially from the consumers drawn to the area, he said.
Obergfell said he and the congregation are hopeful the acquisition will be approved because all believe it’s the “perfect location” for the church. If the variance isn’t approved, Obergfell said the church will regroup and make other plans to facilitate its growth.
As for the Christmas rental of Premier, that was approved for the church. All are welcome to attend services at 9 and 11 a.m. Christmas Day.
“We’re open to everybody, for sure,” Obergfell said.
