Members of Christ Covenant Church took turns placing a piece of paper on the fire.

Each one was from the mortgage or deed created five years ago when Rick and Amber Prather bought the building at 1005 S. Poplar St., Seymour.

The previous owner of the church building had accepted their offer to buy it for $40,000. They put down $10,000 upfront, so that left $30,000 to be raised.

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Nearly five years to the date, they were able to celebrate a paid-off mortgage.

After a worship service Sunday morning, the Prathers and members of the congregation gathered in a circle outside the building for a ceremony to burn the mortgage and deed. Members also were invited to bring an item “that’s not of the Lord” to burn.

Following the ceremony, Rick said he felt set free because the church was debt-free. He praised the congregation for making it happen.

“I’m a firm believer you don’t have to force it, push it, beg for it or fundraise for it if the Lord’s in it,” he said. “In no words in (the Bible) do I find Jesus having to take up offerings to make things go. In the Old Testament, it doesn’t, either.”

He considers it a blessing that the church members stepped up.

“When people say, ‘You don’t pass around tithe and offering here. Why?’ We shouldn’t have to,” Rick said. “If you’re a child of God, you should want to give. Look what happened, and they gave. This is awesome. Look what you all have done because of your obedience. Look what the Lord has blessed us with. I’m like, ‘It’s yours. It’s not mine.’ People say, ‘It’s your church.’ I go, ‘It’s not my church. It’s the body of Christ. It’s your all’s.’”

Rick became an associate pastor at New Hope Church in Acme in 2004. Then Jan. 1, 2006, the Prathers started a church in their Seymour home with six members.

Six months later, they moved into a building at 206 S. Chestnut St. in downtown Seymour. That year, they also began doing juvenile detention ministry and later got back into prison ministry.

In the seventh year at their downtown church, attendance reached 50, and they realized they needed more space.

Since buying the church building on South Poplar Street, their attendance has continued to grow.

“In the over 13 years we’ve been together, I tell you what, there have been some great changes, there have been some things that have gone on. I’m telling you it’s just awesome,” Rick said to the congregation during Sunday morning’s service.

“Have there been a lot of tests and trials? Yes,” he said. “Somebody told me the other day, ‘The devil is trying to break you down.’ No. the Lord breaks you down. The devil lets you keep on going and doing what you’re doing. Whether it be disobedient spiritually, physically, mentally or financially, the devil lets you go ahead and do that.”

The Lord breaks a person down to get the pride and arrogance off so he can mold them into his image and use them, Rick said.

“That’s what being set free is,” he said.

And that’s what happened to Christ Covenant Church in February when Rick realized the church had been paid off in five years.

“I thank the good Lord that we have obedient tithers in this church,” he said to the congregation. “Tithes take care of the church and the priest. The offerings take care of you. That’s what it’s all about. Someone asked me, ‘You really believe that tithe?’ I said, ‘You better bet your bippy I do.’ I said, ‘Look at me and my wife. When we got saved, we were broke, busted and disgusted. Now, we’re healthy, wealthy and wise.’”

That’s only because of the Lord and his Word guiding them, Rick said.

“That’s spiritually, physically, mentally and financially,” he said. “If you just wait on the Lord, he said, ‘A good man, I’ll order his steps,’ so here, the good people over the body of Christ, the Lord has ordered our steps, and look what he has done.”

Now, the Prathers are considering either expanding their property or obtaining a few acres to construct a new building.

“I’ve got another church that’s in need of a building, and if we go buy some acreage and put a church on it, this is theirs. I’m not charging them,” Rick said. “People said, ‘That’s not good business.’ No. Jesus said, ‘If you see a brother in need and you have the ways to take care of them, do it.’ … I’m a firm believer that we need to follow in the footsteps of Christ and bless folks. You can’t outbless the Lord.”