New Life Fellowship Church
Moline

- Stained Glass Projects -

The "DOVE" Window

New Life Fellowship has a very special stained glass window.  It is located on the east side of the building over the east entrance doors.  It is oval in shape and depicts a descending, white dove with an olive sprig in its mouth.  It was installed on Friday, September 1st in the opening created just for it  --   just in time for the grand opening of our newly remodeled facility!    

There are a number of special aspects to this window.  One is the theme itself.  The white dove, a common theme in religious art, represents several things.  The most obvious is peace, but since our dove is in a descending posture, it also represents the Holy Spirit coming down to God's people.  The image of a descending dove is seen in the story of Christ's baptism, among others.  Since it has an olive sprig in its mouth, it also represents new life.  This harkens back to the story of Noah who sent a dove out of the ark after the flood.  It returned with an piece plucked from an olive tree showing Noah that there was indeed new life on the earth.  How appropriate since our name is "New Life Fellowship"!

One of the most special aspects of the window is that we used some of the colored glass from the old sanctuary as the background around the dove!   This glass, #238NLLG, is a multicolor mix with a rough, "granite" texture on the back side.   It was made by the Paul Wissmach Glass Company of Paden City West Virginia and is still available to this day.  We were able to salvage about 50 square feet of this glass from the old sanctuary.  The dove itself is made from 3 different types of white glass.  The olive sprig has 3 different green glasses in its leaves and the "stem" is a tan and brown mix.   We found a very special piece of glass for the eye that is primarily blue, but with a golden center spot!!   All of these glasses will contrast nicely with the darker multicolor background glass!

The stained glass window is protected by a piece of Lexan® which is a clear, unbreakable polycarbonate plastic.  This acts as a storm window and protects the stained glass window from weather, vandalism and near-sited birds.  Since the opening opens into the attic above the east entrance, a light has been installed there in such a way as to illuminate the window at night.

Dove Window Installed

Dove Window in Progress