KAPAAU, Hawaii » The rafters will rock with song today at this North Kohala church for the first time since the Oct. 15, 2006, earthquake turned its walls into a rockslide.

Photographs of the damaged Kalahikiola Church were seen around the world as evidence of the power of the 6.7-magnitude quake and aftershock north of Kailua-Kona.

For the 100 members of the historic Big Island church, there was no doubt from day one that they would restore the 155-year-old building, said Patrick Ku, reconstruction chairman. They invited 400 guests to the 11 a.m. rededication service and luau.

The $1.5 million building project has received contributions from other churches in the United Church of Christ denomination, former members and mainland visitors who have made the trek to this remote corner of the Big Island, a tourist destination because it is the birthplace of Kamehameha the Great. Insurance paid out almost $1 million.

Kalahikiola was one of the earliest Christian congregations established by 19th-century New England missionaries to Hawaii. The roof of the current building was raised in 1855, the third church structure at the site, said a former pastor, the Rev. George Baybrook.

“;When the church was built, it was all done by the members,”; Ku said. “;They carried the rocks”; from gulches in the area.

“;It took them three years to gather the material before beginning to build. In testimony to their dedication, we couldn't discard the rocks,”; he said.

White plaster walls had covered the rocks, hiding the state of the crumbling mortar that let go on Oct. 15.

The new facade of pristine white plaster covers hollow-tile walls, a change in the structure mandated by costs and modern building codes.

“;It looks exactly as it did before”; even though the concrete masonry is new, said architect Glenn Mason, whose firm, Mason Architects, was involved in repairing quake damage to Hulihee Palace. “;All of the roofing and framing, the tower structure and most of the floor structure are original. The three doors are original. They salvaged the windows and fixed them.”;

He said Kikiaola Construction Co. of Kauai did “;excellent work,”; adding, “;You could not build a church with this detail for anything like $1 million.”;

Don Wilkinson, a church member and woodcraft artisan, restored the koa altar and railing in the chancel area of the church, which had been splintered in the quake.

Uncountable numbers of ocean-smoothed stones are still on the scene, now aligned in a low perimeter wall built by Robert Joiner. “;There's 600 feet of linear wall, and we still have rocks,”; Ku said.

A free-standing stone arch that predates the church was repaired in the old traditional stone-and-mortar method in a monument of sorts to the original builders.

Baybrook said the congregation includes a descendant of the first pastor, the Rev. Elias Bond, who first raised a thatched structure at the site in 1832. Bond was later involved in starting Kohala Sugar Co.

The Rev. Tom Fernandez uses the stones to link the physical and spiritual perspectives of Kalahikiola: “;They represent that Jesus is our rock, our cornerstone. No matter what storms come or how the earth shakes, we will not be shaken in our trust of God. That's our manao.

“;When people see the beautiful church ... it is important that our lives be a reflection of our God. How we speak, how we act ... if we're not reflecting God, then the beauty of the building isn't important.”;