GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — For Chris Pangerl, Monday, Sept. 28, was his second groundbreaking for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in this bedroom community of Flint.

Pangerl said he attended the old church's first groundbreaking in 1981. He said he "did a lot of growing up" in the building as one of the youths who worshiped inside the tan brick structure with a white steeple that was a landmark in Grand Blanc Township.

"I knew all the nooks and crannies of this building," said Pangerl, 53. "I was telling somebody earlier, I had even been inside the steeple."

Pangerl spoke Monday morning along with church leaders and public officials during a news conference at the site of the old church at 4285 McCandlish Road. The gathering was held ahead of the church's groundbreaking service that evening.

The groundbreaking and news conference are exactly one year after gunman Thomas "Jake" Sanford drove his truck into the Mormon church building, set it ablaze and fired his rifle into the congregation during Sunday services. Sanford, who was shot dead by law enforcement in the response to the attack, ultimately killed four parishioners and destroyed the building.

Members of the Grand Blanc congregation, which has 630 members of record, have since met at the LDS church's Flint campus on Robert T. Longway Boulevard.

Bishop Jeffrey Schaub called the new building on McCandlish Road "a chapter" for the congregation.

"Healing is a process, and it’s different for everyone. This might help people; this might not. For me, it’s good to see that we’ve got our place back, that we’ll continue to build memories, that our children will have a place to gather and get baptized, and to see that our happiness, our joy, can continue," Schaub said. "It wasn’t necessarily tied to something physical, but having this new building will allow us to continue down that road."

The new house of worship will be located on the same site of the church destroyed in last year's attack. It will be between 24,000 and 25,000 square feet. Church members declined to say how much the building would cost to build.

The building will serve as the headquarters for the Grand Blanc Stake for the LDS church. The stake serves Grand Blanc Township and city, Holly, Fenton and Swartz Creek, said Schaub.

Chris Pangerl's wife, Sheri, said she was "not surprised at all" that they're rebuilding the church.

"Our faith is a faith of hope and of joy, and I feel like they knew this would be healing for us, to have a new stake center, to be able to have a place that we can all meet together," said Sheri Pangerl, 53.

While Bishop Schaub said the new building will help with the healing process, he said that process hasn't been an easy one for their congregation. He said some people needed time and space to process the attack as opposed to a quick fix that church leadership could easily offer.

“Everyone had an individual need over the last year, and it required a lot of work to know that, but that’s where we found success," Schaub said.

Since the attack, the Grand Blanc Township, its police department and the church have opened a victims' compensation fund for survivors to pay for counseling and items lost in the attack. Genesee Health System has also opened a "resiliency" center to provide victims and survivors of the attack with resources including mental health support.

Grand Blanc Township Police Chief Bill Renye said the new church is a reflection of the township as a community.

“It’s about rebuilding, showing that no matter what we go through in this community, no matter how tragic it is, that we’re going to rebuild, because this is Grand Blanc," said Renye. "This is a strong community. We’re tight-knit.”

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