The First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City will move all its operations to a new location in the next few years, Executive Pastor Carey Jones said.
He said the church, which has stood at 107 N. Truman Blvd. (Hwy. 61-67) in Crystal City for the past 100 years or so, will start a construction project next year to add considerable space to its Family Life Center, located at 1701 Plattin Road south of the Twin Cities.
The congregation, which is 135 years old this year, has received about $3 million in pledges for the construction project, said Jones, who is heading up the church while the congregation seeks a new senior pastor.
The previous pastor, Thomas Worsham, left about one-and-a-half years ago.
Jones said the congregation intends to sell the current 80,000-square-foot church building after the move, adding that the congregation looks to make the move in two-and-a-half to three years.
“Construction will start next spring,” he said. “Once construction starts, you’re talking at least a year to build.”
The new construction will add 23,810 square feet to the existing 15,500-square-foot Family Life Center, Jones said.
“What we’re doing with the construction is getting space for education,” he said. “We will use our Family Life Center as our worship space with a future sanctuary to be built. What we’re building is a state-of-the-art building with about 25 classrooms for preschool, children’s center and adult education space. Goodwin Construction will oversee construction of our new building.
“If funds allow, we plan to also build an office area and another four or five classrooms.”
The Family Life Center already has a gymnasium and kitchen area.
“(The addition) will go along the side and back of the Family Life Center,” Jones said.
The 40-acre church property along Plattin Road includes soccer fields the congregation previously built, he said.
The addition of a new sanctuary at the Plattin Road property would be built during a later phase of the project. After the relocation, services will be held in the Family Life Center until a sanctuary is built, Jones said.
“At some future date, we will have a campaign for a new sanctuary where services will be held,” he said.
He said the main reason for the relocation is to be closer to the Twin Cities population center, which has shifted south over time.
“We’re a church that wants to meet our community’s needs,” Jones said. “We need to be where the community is at. We wanted to be where the city was going.”
He said the congregation has considered relocating the church for around two decades.
“This (relocation plan) has been brewing for 20 years,” he said. “Last year, we did another vote on it (among congregation members), and it passed with an 86-percent approval. That’s overwhelming.”