Saturday, October 24, 1998

A huge new church still overflows

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

Scripps Howard News Service

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.: Everyone at First Baptist Church-Concord realized they needed a little more space. They just didn't know how badly they needed it.

It was mid-1995, and a committee of church officials had decided to build a 2,000-seat worship center to satisfy the large throng of people who flooded the church each Sunday.

"They came to a place that we needed to build a new worship facility in order to accommodate the folks, so we voted to do it," said pastor Doug Sager. "But by the time we got to that vote, we were already running more than that."

Plans were redrawn, land acquired and last month, they opened their sparkling-new 3,000-seat, $6.8 million worship center.

The result? They've had to pull out as many as 400 extra chairs for worshippers who still can't find seats. Sager said they still lack needed Sunday school space, and there isn't enough available parking, even after 6 acres of parking spaces have also been added.

The 62,000-foot, three-story structure opened in August. The beautiful new building features a computerized lighting system, a state-of-the-art stereo sound system and comfortable carpeting and classroom space throughout the building.

Added parking spaces, along with new furnishings for the building, brought the project's total price to approximately $7.3 million, said associate pastor Larry Boyles.

Since Sager moved to First Baptist Concord in 1993, membership has gone from 800 people to nearly 5,000.

"What happened to us was that our growth rate accelerated to a point that we simply could not accommodate the people who would turn out -- even with two services," said Sager, adding that they even had a television overflow room for the 9 a.m. services.

"We started our mission church, West Lake Baptist Church, thinking that might alleviate some of the pressure, but it didn't," said Sager, who is also president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. "They've grown where they're averaging over 250 now."

But the new auditorium, complete with brown-hued pews in its two levels, has pretty much solved that problem for now, although there were two instances so far when extra chairs were needed.

"Probably a year or two down the road, we'll probably have to go back to two services," Sager said.

At first glance, the small, close, family-like atmosphere of a little church would seem to be lost in such a huge, modern edifice.

"We built a big building, that's obvious," said Boyles. "Yet the warmth is still there."

Sager was also concerned about losing the intimacy that a smaller facility provides.

"But it hasn't happened," Sager said. "There's just such a presence that is here ... I think the spirit of the day becomes the factor."

Two more phases are planned over the next several years. The first will be an administrative building that will house church offices and a media center. The second will be an educational center for Bible study and Sunday School sessions.

The church campus will have to continue to grow since some day Sager envisions membership growing to potentially 8,000 members.

"I think our only limitation here would be our own vision because if you look at the population base, there are over 40,000 people within a 10-minute drive of our church," he said. "There are a lot of churches, and there are some great churches doing a wonderful job, but if every one of us was filled to capacity every Sunday, most of the people wouldn't be able to go to church.

"We have a warm fellowship here," he added. "Sunday morning is like family.

"If you could see the faces I see on Sunday mornings, there's a lot of joy, there's a lot of excitement. It's just an awesome experience."

(Add Seymour Jr.writes for The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee.)