For over 12 years, a sign on McGillivray has said its their future home. As of Sunday, that's finally becoming a reality.

You may recognize the sign. Just west of Costco on McGillivray Boulevard, a sign reads 'Future Home of Whyte Ridge Baptist Church.' That sign has stood for the past 12 years.

"There was this momentum towards building but then things went a little strange," said the lead pastor Terry Janke. "God was maturing the church, getting his timing."

In 2004, the land was purchased from Lafarge and subsequently paid off within two years. However, other stuff got in the way, so the land remained unused. But Janke says that momentum has been building at Whyte Ridge Baptist Church and they are now ready for that next step.

"We're just running out of space," said Janke. "We have childcare downstairs all week, various programs . . . we have two services, the second one is always full and the parking is always limited."

The Winnipeg Somang Presbyterian Church also holds their worship services there and Janke says the building is feeling fatigued.

The new church will feature a multi-purpose gymnasium that will act as their sanctuary until phase two, if that is needed. It will also have a large outdoor field, a playground and lots of parking space.

"It's adding versitility to what kind of programming we can offer the community," Janke said.

Their location beside FortWhyte Alive creates a great partnership. Because of this, the church is heavily focused on being green, even though it will cost them quite a bit.

"We've developed retention ponds where drainage will go instead of [FortWhyte's] lake," Janke explained. "It's costing us a lot more for site development than we thought it would."

A sod-turning church ceremony on Sunday signaled the start of the process and the lead pastor is very excited to see what the next step in the process will be.