Just as he’s done every Easter Sunday for nearly 60 years, the Rev. I.J. Johnson led his Toledo congregation in prayer.

What was different this time, though, was that his venue had changed. What remained were the people and the always familiar message.

For the first time since St. Mark Baptist Church burned more than a year ago, members of the church met in its new permanent home at 2340 N. Holland-Sylvania Rd. in southwest Toledo.

“The Lord has been good to us,” Mr. Johnson said last week in an interview with The Blade.

PHOTO GALLERY: St. Mark Baptist Church’s new location

The auditorium was filled to capacity — more worshipers took standing room in the lobby. Mothers with small children — like Teahirra Reditt and her year-old son Chanse — busied the little ones with snacks and video games, hoping for quiet during the service. In pews nearest the pulpit, women in brightly colored suits, with hats to match, stood and clapped throughout the pastor’s 90-minute message.

Others in the congregation joined them, cheering and clapping, and singing loudly while raising their hands toward the ceiling. A powerful choir dressed in purple robes with gold trimmings led the hymns.

It’s not the church space that matters, it’s the church spirit.

“Even though the church burned down, we lost our church, but we didn’t lose our spirit,” said Carrye Rudolph, a church member.

After the Jan. 3, 2014 fire destroyed the 111-year-old building at Fernwood and North Detroit avenues, St. Mark met at the University of Toledo’s Driscoll Alumni Center Auditorium and later at the Bridge Academy of Ohio, 2727 Kenwood Blvd.

“The church is always in the person’s heart,” Ms. Rudolph said. “We were all totally fine wherever we had to go.”

On Jan. 2, the church purchased the new building on North Holland-Sylvania, the former Rhema Christian Fellowship. In the months since the property was acquired, the church has undergone a total remodeling. Every room in the building was redone, said Pastor C.L. Johnson, the Rev. Johnson’s son and also the co-pastor of St. Mark.

The Rev. Johnson said there’s still more work to be done — at some point, a new roof will be installed, he said.

Dynasty Davis, 24, of Toledo said her family has been members of St. Mark since before she was born. The new building is, she said, “beautiful.”

“I believe it’s really a blessing from above,” she said.

When the central Toledo site burned, the Rev. Johnson had been preaching at that location for 58 years. Having to leave behind everything and the memories was emotional.

“It was difficult for me because after you stand in the pulpit of one area, it’s difficult to have to leave there,” the Rev. Johnson said.

The cause of the fire that gutted St. Mark Baptist’s old church remains unknown.

The new site is now closer to where most of the church members live, the reverend said. During the service Sunday he said the church moved “to light that side of town on fire for Jesus.”

“The people make the church, not the building,” the Rev. Johnson said. “But we have a building to worship the Lord in. We’re proud of our new location.”

Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.

First Published April 6, 2015, 4:00 a.m.