LAKELAND, Fla. — An historic mansion sized home owned by a Lakeland church has been given a complete makeover.

The home owned by the South Florida Avenue Church of Christ had fallen on hard times and the church didn't have the funds to fix it up.

Last year the church put a sign in front of the home offering to give it away to someone willing to move it. 

That's when Publix heir Gregory Fancelli stepped in. He offered to return the home to its former glory so the church could keep it on its property and put it to good use. 

The project is done, and it turned out great. The front porch that had been closed in has been reopened. The windows have been replaced and the wood floors have been restored. 

"Yes, they did a good job restoring those," said preacher Brian Kenyon about the floors. "They are white oak and they are nice and fancy, especially for the day when it was built."

The bathrooms have been restored and the kitchen has been updated with all new cabinets, granite countertops and top of the line appliances.

"I would say an 11," said Kenyon about the level of workmanship on the project if he had to rate it on a scale of one to 10.

A church family is living on the bottom floor of the home, and a half dozen students attending the church's school of preaching live in the top floor. 

"Oh absolutely an answer to prayer and the providence of God," said Kenyon. "In fact, this is an illustration of an answer to prayer when we didn't even know what to pray for and here it came."