WEST CHESTER TWP. — The timing couldn’t be better for LifeChurch Pastor Randy Rice.

His congregation has grown exponentially in five years, requiring a rapid growth of the worship space.

On Easter Sunday, Rice and his staff are expected to welcome hundreds to a brand new sanctuary.

“It couldn’t be any better,” Rice said this week in advance of the inaugural service. “We celebrate the Lord’s resurrection. There is a bright future. There is a hope.

“Easter Sunday, man, it makes it so much sweeter.”

LifeChurch sprouted with just 12 to 13 members from the Montgomery Assembly of God about six years ago, using space in the basement of another local church. They continued to grow, and eventually converted a warehouse off of U.S. 42 that holds up to 170 adults in the sanctuary, or about half of their current total adult membership, Rice said.

But there were larger plans — in fact a 10-year vision that will culminate with moving into another building that holds up to 400 and includes a secure area for children.

The new facility at 8490 Cincinnati Columbus Road — U.S. 42.  is twice the size of the former building, which will be used for youth and small group ministry, Rice said.

LifeChurch also purchased an 11-acre tract — including buildings — near the corner of Butler-Warren Road and U.S. 42, development that will quickly move to the top of Rice’s to-do list.

Although the larger Assembly of God organization helped to finance LifeChurch’s latest move, it wasn’t done without a great deal of assistance from local parishioners and LifeChurch leaders, Rice said.

During a brutal recession, the local congregation managed to raise more than $300,000.

Rice calls the impressive fundraising faith.

“It says a lot for what God is doing even in this down economy,” he said. “We really have something that supersedes all of that. There is love between people and a greater vision for our lives. It’s a higher calling and there’s greater purpose. People have caught that vision.”