Perry Noble's Second Chance Church Lands New Home in SC Shopping Center
Perry Noble's new Second Chance Church finally found a new home about two years after the famed megachurch founder and pastor was fired from South Carolina's largest church because of his alcohol addiction.
Noble announced on Facebook Wednesday that Second Chance Church, which was launched online late last year following his alcohol rehabilitation, will be housed in a strip mall in Anderson, South Carolina.
Since last December, Second Chance church has mostly existed online with Noble holding some meetings at his own home. This past Easter, the church held a service that was attended by as many as 2,100 people.
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"It's starting to come together!" Noble wrote in his Facebook announcement. "Our plans for upfitting the place where we will meet for Second Chance are in the permitting phase and should be done in the next week or so."
Noble explained that the church's first service in the new building could be held as soon as September.
"So thankful the Lord has provided us a place to meet — until then we will continue to gather online every week!" he concluded. "The best IS yet to come!"
According to The State, the church will be housed in the Clemson Boulevard strip mall, which houses box chain stores such as Target, Lowe's, Petsmart, Michaels and Ashley Furniture.
Noble's announcement comes one day after he provided an update and a "last apology" two years after he was removed as senior pastor at NewSpring Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch, where his sermons were seen by over 30,000 people at several satellite campuses across the state.
"People have speculated on the specifics since even before my termination was announced. And, while I wish there would have been a different outcome — the bottom line is I am the one who poured the drinks," Noble wrote. "To say the days that followed were 'dark' would be an understatement. Honestly I could not see a way out, or how I would ever be able to crawl out of the darkness I had plunged into."
Noble explained that his mistakes had cost him "everything." He would also end up getting a divorce from his wife of 17 years in 2017.
"I did not believe picking up the pieces was even a possibility," he wrote. "I dealt with intense bouts of loneliness, fear, depression, doubt and self defeat. However, Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God makes everything beautiful in His time. And, while in my darkest season I doubted whether or not this was true — I am now beginning to see the benefits of all I've gone through."
Noble assured that having gone through an intense treatment program, he was put on the "path to to discovering how to deal with the real issues from my past (trauma) that was causing me to overmedicate on alcohol."
"[I]t's incredible to live in a place of true healing and freedom," he stated.
While Noble still has his critics, he asserted that he does not need them.
"I feel like I have apologized over and over for two years — and — while I am truly sorry, it's time for me (and you) to move on!" he wrote.
"You did not call me into ministry—and you can't call me out of it. I'm not mad at you, nor will I fight with you — I'm simply going to do my best to 'focus forward' and try to reach as many people for Christ as possible. Besides, the affirmation of people who don't care enough to find out the entire story simply doesn't matter to me. God is a God of Second Chances — and it's my hope and prayer I can make the best out of mine!"
