La Scala building resurrected: Nuvo Church to open Easter Sunday at former Dublin landmark

Growing up near Greenville, South Carolina, a young Patrick Holden wanted to become one of three figures: John Mayer, Greg Maddux or a pastor.

An only child raised from birth by a single mother, Holden developed a deep love for music, particularly that of Mayer; for baseball, specifically the Atlanta Braves en route to a 1995 World Series championship; and an abiding faith instilled in him by his mother.

At age 12, he spoke to children at an orphanage outside Greenville in what he recalls as his first sermon of sorts.

Now 34 years old, Holden is continuing his faithful journey and helping others explore their own faith as lead pastor of Nuvo Church, 4199 W. Dublin-Granville Road in Dublin.

The congregation will welcome members at the first worship service at its new location on Easter Sunday, with two services at 9:30 and 11 a.m. April 17

Nuvo Church is leasing the former La Scala facility, an Italian-style restaurant that was closed in October 2020 and had been a landmark on the south side of West Dublin-Granville Road, between Riverside Drive and Sawmill Road, since 1972.

More: La Scala bids arrivederci

Holden and his wife, Emily – along with the congregation’s executive pastor, Ryan Stigile, and church members – performed much of the remodeling of the 16,000-square-foot facility.

Emily Holden and others painted the walls of what will serve as the children’s playroom and classroom for children’s lessons.

Patrick and Emily Holden, now Dublin residents, met while they were students at Lee University, a Christian school in Cleveland, Tennessee, where they also met Stigile and Zach White.

While there, the Holdens, Stigile and White, who's now at a church in Florida, resolved to one day found their own congregation.

“We all knew people who were raised with going to church but then stopped going (as adults), and we stayed up until 3 a.m. some nights talking about why,” Holden said. “We thought it was something we would do by the age of 50,” but it would happen much sooner, he said.

The Holdens went on to join the staff at North Point Ministries in suburban Atlanta and then to a campus of Kingston Church in Traverse City, Michigan.

While there, they and Stigile, who was at a congregation in Georgia, revisited their idea to launch a new congregation and began looking in several cities, including Chicago, Columbus and Indianapolis.

At the same time, Holden said, they began refocusing the goal of whom they most desired to reach – from those who were not churched at all to those who had doubted their faith.

While visiting Columbus, Patrick Holden said, he felt “a nudge” to launch Nuvo Church in Columbus and, in particular, in Dublin’s Bridge Park.

The name of the church, although similar to the word new, is not a direct translation of any word but is rather “a word we came up with that it is easy to remember and catchy,” Holden said.

While not scientific in any manner, Holden said, a social-media survey undertaken by the congregation indicated an overwhelming number of college-age students in central Ohio indicated “they believed in something but didn’t know what,” and many identified as agnostic.

Holden described the mindset to the game of Jenga.

“They’ve got this pile of blocks and don’t know how to put them back together,” he said.

To that end, Holden quantified the mission of Nuvo Church as a place “creating space for people to explore and integrate their faith.”

Nuvo Church was launched in June 2020 amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic as virtual gatherings via Zoom, but by early 2021, members had begun hosting small gatherings at the residences of members for the purpose of Bible study and discussion.

At the start last year, members also began meeting in person at a COhatch at Polaris and other locations. In September 2021, Nuvo Church began conducting regular worship services at The Exchange at Bridge Park, 6520 Riverside Drive, averaging 150 to 200 people at its single worship service.

Among its members are Mike and Kristina Morton of Dublin.

Morton, 51, and his wife have been members since the start.

Both had been raised with faith as a foundation, “but I hadn’t belonged to a church (as a member) in 30 years,” Mike Morton said.

He said his faith was re-awakened by a chance viewing of "The Passion of the Christ" on Easter Sunday in 2019.

“I began reading the Bible every day,” Morton said.

Less than a year later, he said, Stigile reached out to him via LinkedIn, asking him and other local business executives about the area’s faith community.

“His timing was spot on,” said Morton, who with his wife since has become active members, participating in some of the remodeling projects.

After Easter Sunday, Nuvo Church will maintain worship services at 9:30 and 11 a.m. every Sunday.

Holden said the congregation wants to reach out into the community in other ways, “but we don’t quite yet know what that looks like yet.”

The Holdens have two sons and a daughter ranging in age from 5 years to 7 months.

For more information about Nuvo Church, go to nuvochurch.org.

kcorvo@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekCorvo

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: La Scala building resurrected: Nuvo Church to open Easter Sunday at former Dublin landmark