The choir, more than 50 strong, was belting out a song that had many of the 1,700 parishioners and visitors on their feet, clapping and swaying and singing in time.
"We made it," they sang enthusiastically. "Thank God, we made it."
Made it, they have -- and in a big way.
The Empowerment Temple, a rapidly growing African Methodist Episcopal church, opened the doors yesterday at its new home in a former skating rink in Northwest Baltimore. Between two morning services, about 3,500 people crossed the threshold.
The sanctuary's debut came after more than the usual hassles that go with major construction or renovation. There had been community concerns to address, zoning problems to remedy. So the sense of celebration seemed magnified.
"We've come a long way," said the pastor, the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, 32.
Church members, many in their 20s and 30s, spoke with excitement at finding a permanent home. Services had been held at Walbrook High Uniform Services Academy in West Baltimore.
In a reflection of the church's quick rise to prominence in just more than three years -- it claims about 6,000 members -- the front row was occupied yesterday by U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Mayor Martin O'Malley.
"This is a very important congregation; it's growing fast," O'Malley said afterward. "And they had to overcome a lot of adversity and a lot of logistical problems and community concerns to get here."
The church -- at 4221 Primrose Ave., off Reisterstown Road -- is so big that four large screens project Bryant's image for those sitting in the outer reaches. Some sermons are taped and later televised. It is hard to imagine that the church began with, as Bryant put it, 43 people who gathered for Bible study in his living room.
Empowerment Temple had hoped to make room in its new sanctuary for even more people. In the fall, the city zoning board rejected its application for a 2,200-seat church at the site because of a lack of parking. The potential effect on traffic prompted questions from the Glen Neighborhood Improvement Association and some nearby businesses.
Then, Empowerment Temple downsized its plan to 1,700 seats. There would still be 55 on-site parking spaces, but the church leased lots from area businesses and made plans for shuttle buses.
After its life as a skating rink, the building was used as a church by Living Word Christian Center, but the capacity was 850. So Empower Temple's shrunken scheme still represented a doubling of seats. That won approval from the zoning board last month.
