Steve Murray has never wavered from his vision to provide Real Life Church a home.

With the acceptance of the church’s offer on Lake Retreat Camp and Conference Center, which is just a five minute drive east of Four Corners, Murray may finally be able to lead his flock to a place they can call their own.

Murray is the founding pastor of the church which started in 1998 in his former home on the East Hill of Kent.

I first met him in early 2006, not long after the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter had gotten its start, and in the first article I wrote about Real Life Church in February 2006 I described it as “nomadic” because it had just moved services from Tahoma High to Kentlake High where it has been ever since.

Since then the predominant theme of our conversations — we chat about something the church is doing about two or three times a year — has been about when Real Life would get a permanent home.

About two years ago he and I were having a conversation when I posed the question again, “When are you going to build a church?”

By that, of course, I meant a building Real Life could call home. By then, with a congregation of about 400, he and his staff had clearly built a church family.

Murray and I were sitting in his car in early 2010 after he had given me a tour of the church’s property near Black Diamond. The plan then was to build on that 90 acre chunk of land that fronted Maple Valley Highway.

I won’t ever forget what Murray said.

“We’ll build a church when you and your husband come to a service.”

Being that I don’t publicly discuss my religious (or political) beliefs I am fairly certain I hemmed, hawed, then dodged the invitation. Given that I do stories about many of the churches in the community I feel like I can’t attend services locally because of a potential conflict of interest.

Mostly, though, I just don’t want to get put in a box.

I recall thinking to myself, “Oh, boy. You aren’t ever going to get a church built.”

Turns out, at least for now, that I was right.

Instead the Lake Retreat property became available. It’s perfect. Just add the faithful and bam! Instant church home.

OK, there’s a bit more to it than that, some renovation will need to be done but it’s far simpler than building from the ground up in unincorporated King County. Just ask Pastor Roy Conwell of Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

Murray told me about a month ago that the opportunity to purchase Lake Retreat Camp was presented to Real Life in December. It came as a surprise.

But, it fit into a vision Murray has long held for his church, what he wants to offer.

“From the very beginning I’ve wanted to create an environment, I’ve wanted to do more than just build a building,” he said in March. “I wanted people to not just hear about God or scripture… we wanted people to experience Him. We wanted to create a place where families could come together, where the community could come together and disconnect from technology and hear God speak to them.”

This vision could have become reality at a significantly higher cost on the property in Black Diamond over three phases.

And while Murray initially decided not to look at purchasing Lake Retreat because he thought it was too far away from his congregation, upon the urging of a staff member, he took a drive to Lake Retreat and discovered it was close enough. Maybe even a little closer to the families who attend services at Kentlake than the high school. Just five minutes away by car from the site where Maple Valley Town Square, the future home of a new Fred Meyer set to open in late May, is under construction.

The camp was founded in 1947. It recently underwent major renovations, according to information provided by the church, and has more than 325 bunks, a 75 seat coffee shop, a 250 seat dining hall, a game room, dock, water sports equipment and the list goes on.

In addition, Adelphia Bible College is on the property and will continue operating at Lake Retreat well into the foreseeable future.

On March 25 Murray told his congregation of the acceptance of Real Life’s purchase offer by the board of the organization that owns and operates Lake Retreat Camp.

In a statement, Murray talked about how Lake Retreat fulfills the vision he has long held for his church and what it does beyond its walls.

“This vision is bigger than our church,” Murray said. “It is a vision for the community and we are looking for community participation and investment in its future. Because this property provides such a broad range of learning environments, the local ministerial association will be included in the direction and the development of the future of what Lake Retreat will look like. We have always dreamed that our home would be a gift to our community and this is exactly the gift we envisioned for this region, and much sooner than we ever hoped for.”

It’s worth noting that typically churches who don’t have their own building after six years don’t survive.

“The fact that our congregation has stayed together for 14 years is a testament to the strong foothold we have in the community,” Murray said in the statement. Finding a permanent home where we can continue our community outreach without the weekly rigors of set up will allow us to grow exponentially and eliminate a lot of the operations labor and expense.”

There is still work to be done, money to be raised and a move-in date to be determined — though Murray said it is tentatively planned for sometime in May or June.

Since I first met Pastor Steve I’ve rooted for Real Life to build a home for its church family.

And after Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Covington finally finished its church building last fall, I thought that Real Life had to be next, that it would only be a matter of time before I wrote about construction starting out in Black Diamond.

I am excited for Real Life but also for the people beyond the property line of its new home at Lake Retreat who will be positively affected.

This church has done work building wells in Ghana, provided oil changes and auto maintenance for local families in need, participated in countless community events such as Maple Valley Days and sponsored the annual Hooked on Fishing Derby at Lake Wilderness in April as well as partnered with the administration at Kentlake High on events such as Challenge Day in February as well as Be the Change Day scheduled for April 25.

Even though Real Life finally has a physical, permanent home that doesn’t mean the vision will change. It means it will come into sharper focus. It will allow the church to follow its calling, to do life together, to be a part of both the local and global communities. And Lake Retreat Camp will give it a place do all that from.

Here’s to a vision that has never wavered.