PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A church in Palm Harbor is adding a brand-new pipe organ to its house of worship.

What You Need To Know

  •  St. Alfred's Episcopal Church raised more than $1 million to purchase a pipe organ

  •  Installing the organ will take several weeks and is expected to be completed at the end of July

  •  The organ has 2,019 pipes and was designed in Canada

  • While the organ is being installed, the synagogue next door is letting the church use its sanctuary for services

St. Alfred's Episcopal Church spent over a year raising funds for the musical instrument that will eventually cover some walls of the main sanctuary.

It was a moment Kevin Johnson, the church’s choir director, has waited for 22 years: a semi-truck pulling onto church property carrying pieces of the organ.

“It's wonderful,” Johnson said.

For the past two decades, Johnson has been dreaming of the day that his parish would be able to fill its sanctuary with the melodic tones of a pipe organ.

“There’s nothing that can imitate it, first of all," Johnson said. "It’s just a wonderful, unique sound.”

He has dedicated his life to the instrument, first learning how to play it in high school and further studying it in college.

“It’s the instrument I chose to study and to dedicate my life to so that’s what I think makes it most exciting,” Johnson said.

And the organ is not cheap.

“It’s over a million dollars,” Johnson said.

But in just one and a half years, the church, which averages about 80 to 100 people a service, raised $1.2 million.

“It’s just an incredible sense of thanksgiving,” Johnson said.

On Sunday morning, he and other members of the church celebrated with words of prayer and, of course, music.

“Pretty emotional," Johnson said after watching the morning’s ceremony welcoming the organ to the sanctuary.

Because when you’ve been praying for this day to come for more than 20 years, the choir director can’t help but feel emotional.

“Gratitude,” said Johnson. “Extreme gratitude to God.”

The road to filling the church with that beautiful music will take some time.

Pieces have been delivered to the church, but it will take several weeks to install the 2,019 pipes and two additional weeks to tune the organ before they can celebrate its complete installment at the end of July.

And after 22 years, Johnson said he doesn’t mind waiting a few more weeks to play the instrument in the church that he calls home.

During the construction, Johnson said the synagogue next door has offered its building for the church to hold some of its services while the organ is installed.