How it all began

On a day full of promise and running over with the grace of God, Bishop F. Joe Ellis received a call from a couple in Alliance, OH. They were struggling to keep the doors of a church open and were looking for help. The previous pastor had been gone about a year and a half and most of the members had left as time went by and a new pastor was not found. Now only a small handful remained. The building had been deteriorating for a long time with no one making repairs or updating the facilities. It was nearing the end of 2007.
Bishop Ellis is the overseer of The Link Network, a group of churches who operate under the leadership of The Link, a church in Canton, OH. A few meetings later, The Solid Rock was officially incorporated into the network and help began to arrive. Elder Oval Eller became the Interim Pastor of the church, to lead the work until a permanent pastor could be found.
Minister Tony Cruz and his family began to come regularly to the church to help, commuting from Canton. Soon the Cruz family began to be more involved and feel the call of God to the city of Alliance. High on the list of needs was the condition of the building. It was infested with spiders, filled with outdated items, the water supply was unusable, the roof had holes where you could see outside, and the front doors had been bricked over and covered with metal.
The Dream began to germinate in the hearts of the people as God began to work. Through the generosity of multiple sources, things began to turn around. A new commercial roof was donated, including labor. We were able to hook up to the city water system. We exterminated our creepy crawly friends. We filled up dumpsters with trash and debris. A fresh wind was blowing.
Take a look at some of our "before" pictures.