Year After Tornado, First Baptist Poised to Hold First Service in New Location

This Sunday at 10:30 a.m. the First Baptist Church will hold their first service at their new location, 5000 SH 71 West, just across the highway from McCourt and Sons Equipment and next door to Advance Hydrocarbon. On the location sits a Discipleship Building and a pavilion. The pavilion is their temporary meeting space until their new Worship Center can be built in the next nine months.

“This is an exciting time for the church,” said Justin Lopez, the discipleship pastor of First Baptist. “We are looking forward to new possibilities at our new location.” Their old location, 121 S. College Street has been on the market for over a year now. Lopez said they had outgrown the facility which sits on less than two acres. “We now have a little under 12 acres and more room to expand,” said Lopez.

Along with room to expand, the church has added some new additions. Inside the Discipleship Building is a coffee shop made from reclaimed wood and security cameras have been added. “We put cameras up, especially in our youth areas because we want to make sure they stay safe,” said Lopez.

This new location, pavilion and building has been a long time coming because it has been a journey for the First Baptist Church staff and congregation. “We had 75% of the church done, insurance finalized and we had planned to have a celebration the following day, but then the tornado hit,” said Lopez. Many remember on May 3 of last year when an F2 tornado, speeds between 113 and 157 mph, touched down and caused multiple damage in the area. Then in September of last year, Dr. Steve Brown joined First Baptist Church as their new senior pastor. “He has handled everything very well since he was kind of thrown in with everything going on,” said Lopez. “He also has past experience in building new facilities so that has been a plus.”

As of now, Sunday Worship will be the only thing happening at the new location due to the pandemic. The church has come up with a regathering plan, which consists of three phases.

Phase One will have the congregation meet in the pavilion which is located behind the new Discipleship Building. There will be no growth groups (only online), classes or childcare and CDC guidelines will be followed. Also at this time, the Discipleship Building will not be open, but tours can be given upon individual request.

Phase Two will start on June 21st.

During that time the church plans to start certain growth groups back up again and open the Discipleship Building for those gatherings.

Phase Three will start on July 5th and childcare and classes will start back up again, along with teams and meetings resuming as normal.