PENDLETON — Patrons of a fitness club that is going out of business want the company to relocate instead of close.

But reopening MyTime Fitness may be difficult, because club owner Phil Holden does not get to keep the fitness equipment. Holden leases the building from Chuck Clevenger, and the equipment belongs to Clevenger according to the terms of their contract.

Clevenger plans to auction off the equipment to pay back an $85,000 loan, but he has not set a date. He believes God wants the fitness club to close so a Christian school can open in its place, which is why he is terminating the club’s lease agreement about eight years early, he said.

Club members are considering several options to help the fitness club stay open in a new location.

For instance, the club is asking 170 people to commit to $500 one-year memberships and pay in advance. This would generate enough money to pay back an $85,000 loan and let the club keep its equipment, according to a flier at MyTime Fitness.

Members had pledged about $24,000 as of Thursday, Holden said.

Anyone who pays for a one-year membership will get his money back if the club cannot reopen at a new location, according to the flyer.

“The members have rallied to raise this money,” Holden said. “I am just stunned and humbled at the response of the community. There’s a good chance we may be able to salvage this.”

As a backup plan, the club is asking people to buy the equipment at the auction and donate it to the South Madison Community School Corp.

Regardless, Clevenger is moving forward with his plans to turn the fitness center building into the Madison/Hancock Christian School, which is scheduled to open for the 2008-09 school year.

Clevenger always intended to use the building as a Christian school, but signed a 15-year lease agreement with MyTime Fitness anyway, because he did not know when God would want the building turned into a school, he said.

“I didn’t know what the Lord’s timing was,” Clevenger said. “He’s decided now’s the time.”

MyTime Fitness had more than eight years left on its lease, and the club had grown to include more than 1,400 members. The club had become more than just a place to work out — it was an unofficial community center, several members said.

However, a Christian school in Frankton was in danger of closing and displacing more than 40 students. Clevenger decided to remove MyTime Fitness from his building and make a school for those students.

Fortville Community Christian School has 10 teachers and staff who will move into the new Pendleton school, which will charge tuition.