By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
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A local church that has been part of the Greenwood community since before the Civil War has begun to write its next chapter.
First Baptist Church is sewn into Greenwood’s fabric, having called the city home since 1839, when it was first organized by a group of 20 members. At the time, services were held outdoors until the church could build its first home in 1846, near the intersection of what is now Madison Avenue and Main Street.
The church moved to its current property along Main Street in the 1860s, when a one-room structure was built on the property. Since then, two other buildings have been built on the same land, including its current building, completed in 1971. Residents and visitors will recognize its iconic steeple rising above the trees in Old City Park.
First Baptist will not be located there much longer, as a nearly four-year planning process moves to its next phase.
The church is moving a mile-and-a-half south, to the intersection of Averitt and Stop 18 roads. The $6.1 million project will lead to the construction of a 16,000-square-foot facility on a 26-acre property that the church has owned since the early 2000s.
The new church building will be more than just a place of worship. It will feature a community center and a childcare center. Lionheart Children’s Academy, a Dallas, Texas-based company, will operate the academy out of the church, said Rev. Sean Holloway, senior pastor. The project is a joint effort between the church and Lionheart, and First Baptist’s goal is to build a facility that will be used by the community, and to target a need for early childhood daycare and preschool in Greenwood.
“We recognize that finding good quality childhood care is difficult, and especially with the amount of waiting lists that are in the area, it’s hard,” Holloway said.
The hope is that the new facility — and the church’s partnership with Lionheart — will provide quality education to kids from birth to fifth grade, and families with the gospel.
It will be the first Lionheart academy in Indiana, and only the 12th nationwide, said Michael Tapp, First Baptist construction ad-hoc team chairperson.
Lionheart will also be a revenue generator for the church. Instead of renting the space from the church, the children’s academy will give the church a monthly share of the tuition, Tapp said.
“This is not only an opportunity for us to get a return on our investment, but most importantly, it’s an opportunity for First Baptist Church Greenwood to increase our faith footprint in the community,” he said.
The new building will be a great opportunity for the church to do outreach in the community and increase its congregation size. The church has 165 active congregants, but its overall membership is about 225, including those who attend sparingly.
“We’re pretty sure it’s going to be a successful business venture, but by the same token, we reach out to the community. There is a very good possibility that by reaching out to the community, we’re going to increase our church congregation with a lot of young families,” Tapp said.
Lionheart has been successful in the past when it comes to young families becoming interested in the churches they are connected to. When young parents bring their kids to the academy, they become interested in more than just the daycare center, he said.
“They end up becoming involved and coming back and attending church,” Tapp said.
Holloway’s favorite part of the project are the opportunities and services the new church will provide, he said.
“It’s been a long time coming for this church … and this is just a major turning point in (its) life,” Holloway said.
Planning for the new building is still in the early stages. The current building is in the process of being sold to the Bethel Chin Baptist Church, a local Burmese congregation. Until the new building is built, both churches will share the space, Holloway said.
The building had to be sold so First Baptist could move forward with its project, Tapp said.
First Baptist’s congregation voted unanimously to move forward with the project and sell the church’s current building.
“Everybody’s on the same page. That’s what makes it even more exciting,” he said. “We have everyone pulling in the same direction along with God answering a lot of prayers.”
Church officials are hiring contractors, surveying the land and applying for permits. The goal is to start construction in January or February, and have the new church, community center and school up and running by winter 2023, they said.
