CHURCH TRANSFORMS SCHOOL.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

HARRISBURG - I love Jeses. Jesus loves the little children. God is grate.

The little green schoolhouse has life again. Spiritual life.

You can see it on the chalkboards in the preschool rooms. Even if the spelling is a bit off. You can see it in the guitar strumming, the body swaying, the hands-rising-toward-the-sky movements in the gymnasium-turned-sanctuary.

When it closed last spring because of budget cuts - after 148 years of serving local schoolchildren - everyone wondered what would become of Wyatt Elementary School, four miles south of town on Coburg Road.

The answer: It's now a church. At least temporarily.

The 2-year-old, nondenominational, youth-oriented Life Bible Church has signed a one-year lease for the school building with the Harrisburg School District.

Husband-and-wife co-pastors Brad and Jennifer Neuschwander started the church in the home of Brad's parents in 2001 with just 15 members, but it now boasts a congregation of 350.

The church also purchased the old Harris Elementary School building east of town from the district for $100,000. The plan is to build a permanent church on the Harris site and share the building with the private grade school, Harris Private School, that's operated there since 1998, when Harris Elementary closed because of budget cuts.

Brad Neuschwander's brother-in-law, Matt Hogan, is the administrator at Harris Private School, and Brad's grandfather, Loras Neuschwander, has owned property around the school for a half-century.

But if the price was right, the church might consider purchasing Wyatt and using it as a permanent home, Brad Neuschwander said.

School district officials told angry parents of Wyatt Elementary School children - who merged into Harrisburg Elementary School this fall - that the closure wasn't necessarily permanent, but the school has definitely been transformed.

What was once a drab gymnasium is now an upscale looking sanctuary complete with a new purple-and-mauve paint job, a stage, sound system, new lighting, an overhead screen and acoustic sound panels lining the walls. The school library has been turned into a nursery, the kindergarten room into a hospitality room, classrooms into preschool rooms, and there are plans for a church bookstore.

Neither Superintendent Ron Worrell or the Neuschwanders would disclose the exact terms of the lease, but Brad Neuschwander said it was between $28,000 and $40,000 for the year.

"It's not a great deal of money, but it's helpful to us," Worrell said of the district's strapped budget.

Closing Wyatt is saving the district about $220,000 a year on its approximately $5 million budget. The district now has just one grade school, Harrisburg Elementary.

The Wyatt community generally supports the church occupying the school building, but feelings are definitely mixed, said Steve Bowers, a school board member who attended Wyatt in the 1960s and pushed hard against its closure. "I don't think there's any animosity, just disappointment," said Bowers, who voted in favor of accepting the church's lease.

Brad Neuschwander, 34, is a fourth-generation Harrisburg resident. He and his wife met in the 1980s when both their families attended Eugene Christian Fellowship. They married in 1993 and the church sent them on their own mission two years ago - to "plant" a new church.

After two services in the home of Brad's parents, Roger and Sherrie Neuschwander, the church began to grow and services were briefly moved to Harris Private School.

Since the fall of 2001, the church has held its services at the Seventh Day Church of God in Harrisburg until the first service at Wyatt was held on Oct. 12.

About 150 people gathered at the church for Wednesday night's service, most of them teenagers from Lane and Linn counties, as the church's youth band played lively contemporary worship music.

"It's just a release," said Billy Bohnstehn, a 17-year-old South Eugene High School student, as he used a laptop computer to program words for the congregation to sing onto the overhead screen hanging above the sanctuary's stage.

"Who's ready? Are you ready? Who's ready? Are you ready? Who's ready............to worship God?"

The Neuschwanders are more than aware of the pain that was caused by the closing of Wyatt. After all, Arla Neuschwander, Brad's aunt, was the school's secretary for 23 years. But they say there has been nothing but positive feedback about the building being occupied once again.

"I've told everyone who's asked that there are still little children running through the halls of Wyatt," Jennifer Neuschwander said.

CAPTION(S):

Co-pastor Jennifer Neuschwander (right) embraces congregant Misty Priszner before the Wednesday night service.