New Oconomowoc church, Thirst, moves into the former Olympia Conference Center

It took 56 days for longtime pastor Terry Fulks to start Thirst, a new Oconomowoc church. Now, the church will move to a familiar location to many.

Since Dec. 16, 2018, Thirst held its services at the Oconomowoc Community Center. In January, Thirst announced it had signed a one-year agreement to have its new home at the former Olympia Conference Center at 1350 Royale Mile Road.

"Oconomowoc is such a hot commodity," Fulks said. "It's hard to get space. We were scrambling."

Fulks was told by friends the former Olympia Conference Center could be a possible location for Thirst since in late November 2018, Stewart Wangard, president and CEO of Wangard Partners, purchased the resort and conference center for $3.4 million.

Wangard will continue his plans to convert the hotel portion of the former Olympia into 135 apartments.

Wangard agreed to a rental agreement with Thirst for the former conference center location in January. Since then, volunteers have helped renovate the 35,000-square-foot space into a church.

"In two weeks they've turned this thing around," Fulks said of the volunteers. "To me, it's amazing. ... They're working, and there's laughter. People are having fun. The energy is just fascinating."

Fulks, 66, resigned as lead pastor at Crosspoint Community Church last year after serving the Oconomowoc church for 26 years.

"I did not want to retire," Fulks said in November 2018. "People that know me, they go, 'How long are you going to do this?' I'm a guy who's going to die with his boots on."

Just days after leaving Crosspoint, Fulks met with a group of former Crosspoint congregants to talk about starting a new church.

Things moved quickly for Thirst, which found its first home at the community center.

"They are so accommodating," Fulks said. "They are so helpful. We really feel bad moving out of there."

Each Sunday the nondenominational church holds services at 8:30 and 10 a.m. Between the two services, Fulks said the church has averaged 500 people each week.

The first service in December brought 856 people.

"It was like a party," Fulks said. "People were giddy. We've just continued that."

A new home

Since the former conference center has optimal space, Fulks said spaces for classrooms will be divided from the area where services will be held.

"They'll have their owns classrooms designed for each age group," Fulks said.

Thirst currently offers a children's ministry called Splash, and will offer small groups as well.

Fulks noted he also has seven weddings scheduled at the new church.

"It's very accommodating," Fulks said of the space. "Now we have a space we can grow into. It's better to be able to grow into something. If you grow out, you have to move again."

Thirst is made up of six staff members who work at least part-time. The church will hold services at its new location starting Feb. 17.