Alex Slitz/Daily NewsBlueprints of the new Plum Springs Baptist Church sit on display Wednesday at the church.

Anne Mimms has attended this church for nearly 70 years. Now, the 79-year-old Bowling Green woman is helping one of the oldest churches in Warren County raise money for a much-needed new sanctuary.

Plum Springs Baptist Church has held services in the area for at least 113 years, ever since a series of tent meetings in Plum Springs in 1898. Back then, 14 people were saved, and they became the charter members of the church, Mimms said.

Over the past century, the church has evolved from a tent to a one-room log cabin to the newest building, which was constructed more than 10 years ago. It’s a large, brick building with Sunday school rooms, an office for the pastor and a large multipurpose area.

But the multipurpose room not only serves as the church kitchen and a recreational area, it’s also the sanctuary. Church members are constantly moving tables and chairs to set up the room for worship services. A baptistery is hidden behind the pulpit and the choir section.

“If everybody gets involved, it’s not a big challenge,” Pastor Robert Tarrence said about arranging the room. “But you have to think about the scheduling of the room.”

Also, the sanctuary is barely big enough for the congregation. It seats 220 people and, on Easter, 322 people attended, Tarrence said.

“We are basically at capacity where we are,” Tarrence said. “We’re living in one of the (most growing) areas of Warren County.”

The church is trying to raise enough money to build a nearly $1 million new sanctuary. It will be completely funded through church member donations, and the church hopes to raise at least $270,000 over the next three years.

“I try to make it clear for them to understand that (making a donation) is between them and the Lord,” Tarrence said. “And if they don’t feel led to give anything, that’s OK.”

It will be one of several milestones that senior church members, such as Mimms, have witnessed. Her earliest memory of the church is a daytime revival that happened in the one-room building when she was about 5 years old. Children were allowed to leave school to attend the revival, she said.

She remembers the potbelly stove that heated that building. Her uncle would walk a few miles during the winter to get to the church early and heat it for everyone, she said.

The church has undergone massive changes since then, and it continues to transform, Mimms said.

“I’ve seen all this just open up,” she said. “God has just worked miracles.”