Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Bill Simms] Much Better, much better.
This is the first time anybody has seen it
with full daylight behind it.
[narrator] Each of these stained- glass windows
teaches a lesson about Bible history-
-and one church's history.
[Jan Cool] It totally is a labor of love.
We're doing it because we want to make the church more beautiful.
[woman] Take just a smidgen off right here.
[Mel Stephenson] It's something that has brought the church together.
[narrator] The painted glass windows at Estancia United
Methodist Church faded in the New Mexico sun
over the last half century.
Switching to stained glass would run $1500 a window so the tiny
congregation decided to take matters into their own hands, literally.
[Della Stephenson] Some of the people in the church found
out that Mel and I did stained glass.
[narrator] Della Stephenson and her husband Mel were among a
dozen church members who signed on for the job:
three years to replace 53 windows.
[Della Stephenson] We put in 3 days a week from 9 to about 4.
[Mel Stephenson] A year ago we found a great opportunity to get
a bunch of glass from a shop that was going out of business
so therefore it made it feasible for us cost wise to put these windows in.
[narrator] The effort makes longtime members like
Glenn McGee feel an even greater connection to the church.
[Glenn McGee] I was fortunate enough to see the windows being
painted for the first time in the church.
Now I'm really seeing the transition and I really
feel fortunate about that.
[narrator] The new look is also giving the church new life.
[Della Stephenson] Our biggest outreach I think is having that
Nativity window and the light shining on it through the
Christmas season and people driving by.
I think it's a real inspiration.
We have had seven new people join the church.
Anybody who comes by the church is welcome to come in and pray
and be inspired any way they can be.