BARNESVILLE, Minn. — Craig Labelle just wanted to buy the lot.

His home in Barnesville, Minn., is located next to an empty, grass-covered lot, which he wanted to buy in case he and wife Mary Wheelright ever planned to expand.

But the lot turned out to be a package deal. The parcel of land was attached to a building across the alley: an 1887 church that has housed three different denominations in its 138 years and sat empty.

Most people would have looked at the prospect of buying an old church — with its very specific design as a house of worship, beautiful but leaky stained-glass windows and bathrooms and kitchen confined to the basement — and given up on that idea.

But major renovations didn’t deter this Jack and Jill of all trades. Labelle is a semi-retired plumber and owner of Craig

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