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Jessica King jumped at the opportunity in 1996 to leave rural Lancaster and come to Pittsburgh to fulfill the Mennonite Church's tradition of performing at least a year of community service.

As part of the MennoCorps — a church program modeled after AmeriCorps, which recruits young adults to donate a year of service in lower-income communities — King found great satisfaction working on peace and justice projects at the Thomas Merton Center in Garfield.

But the project that would become her calling was just three doors from her home on Stanton Avenue in Highland Park.

"Over a period of time, a group of us, including several who are artists, were talking regularly about finding some sort of building, maybe an old warehouse or something, where we could work on faith-based projects that involved the arts and had a community focus," said King, 28.

"We really didn't have any specific building in mind. But right on our block there was this vacant church that was deteriorating badly. It seems like we were just drawn to it."

By 2000, the congregation of the century-old Union Baptist Church on Stanton and Negley avenues had shrunk to a handful of members. They decided to sell the 15,000-square-foot building.

"We were attracted to the idea of using a church (for the arts) because they are traditionally seen as very public buildings that are owned by the community, even if people don't attend there," King said. "I don't think you get that with a warehouse."

Lacking the know-how and resources to pursue the deal, the group turned to John Stahl-Wert, then pastor of the Pittsburgh Mennonite Church in Greenfield and the founder of the MennoCorps program.

"We went down to look at the building, and even though it was in bad shape — rain was pouring in through the roof and there was no heating, plumbing or electrical systems — I thought great potential existed there for what we wanted to do," said Stahl-Wert, 44, now executive director of the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit group of Christian leaders who take on community projects.

With anonymous benefactors underwriting the deal, the foundation bought the building for $125,000 in August 2001 and named it the Union Project.

Sandy DeTemple, the real estate agent for Prudential Preferred Realty who helped put the deal together, said she is delighted with what is happening.

"That magnificent old church has a special place in my heart," DeTemple said. "Secretly, I had always hoped that the buyer would use the building in some way connected to what was originally intended when each block was laid into place."

But DeTemple knew that the cost of restoring the building would pose a significant obstacle.

"We had several inquiries from ministers, but their funds were extremely limited and they could not take on a project like that," she said.

The Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation doesn't yet know how much the restoration will cost.

With a shell of a building and a mission to "provide gathering and working space for artists, community builders, and people of faith from East Liberty, Highland Park and adjacent neighborhoods," the foundation has spent the past year chipping away at making its vision a reality.

"The place was basically trashed when we got it," said King, the Union Project's executive director. "It needed everything. But once we had the building, we were more determined than ever to make it work."

King said much of the volunteer restoration effort is rooted in the Mennonite tradition of "barn raisings" in which members of a community come together to help their neighbors.

"The idea is that we wanted to take it past that tradition and make it relevant to the city," King said.

About 300 volunteers logged more than 4,500 hours to fill four 30-cubic-yard trash containers with debris, slash chest-high weeds around the property and repair the roof to prevent further damage.

Volunteers also pitched in to develop a business and marketing plan, develop a Web site and "do whatever else we need," King said.

Because nearly all of the light fixtures, mantle pieces and pews had been sold to pay back utility bills, the only usable things salvaged were a kerosene heater and some office furniture, said Justin Rothshank, who came to Pittsburgh from Goshen, Ind., through the MennoCorps program and now serves as the Union Project's associate director.

Usable items such as china and clothing were sold at a flea market to raise money. Church-related articles such as choir robes, religious books and documents were kept and might eventually be placed on display, he said.

Rothshank, who is a pottery artist, said getting a chance to participate in the Union Project is in many ways the fulfillment of a dream.

"I think I've always had a desire to restore old buildings," said Rothshank, 24. "The fact that everybody involved with this seems to know a little bit about how to chip in and help makes it a little less of an overwhelming task."

Floor plans developed by Desmone Associates Architects were paid for by a grant from the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh.

Stahl-Wert believes the $12,000 grant from the Design Center has significance beyond what it will pay for because it "is like a key to a larger door" of financing from various foundations.

Desmone's plans call for the main sanctuary of the former church to be converted into a performance area with a stage and seating that will be rented out for theater productions, concerts and religious gatherings. A coffee shop, gallery space and meeting areas also are planned.

Additionally, the building's basement and third floor eventually will be converted into artist studios and classrooms that will be rented out.

"The idea is to eventually become a self-sufficient operation," King said. "But that's at least several years in the future. In the meantime, we're not putting up a fence and waiting until everything is done. We're already using the space."

To introduce people to the Union Project, the organization donated use of the building last spring to a newly formed theater group, fittingly named Bricolage — making artful use of whatever is at hand — to stage the play "Wild Signs."

"(Bricolage) brought in everything, including the seats," said Brad Siemens, chairman of the Union Project board of directors. "It started out a little slow, but by the end of the three-week run, performances were standing room only. This really showed us that we had a definite asset here."

Other community activities this year included church services, Pittsburgh Marathon prayer tables, a summer hip-hop competition, a hymn performance in the fall and a farmer's market.

The lack of heat has forced the Union Project to close for the winter, but the organization's members are excited about throwing open the doors again when spring arrives.

"That will be the time when we can really continue with the important job of connecting with the community to make this the neighborhood gathering place we envision," King said.

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