CLEVELAND, Tenn. - When First Baptist Church moved to its current downtown sanctuary, the congregation walked from the old building to the new.
Now, 150 years later, church leaders are planning a 4-mile parade to First Baptist's new location on Stuart Road, Pastor Jim Gibson said.
After multiple delays and two years of construction, First Baptist is preparing for its first Sunday on a new campus on Sept. 19, facilities manager Wayne Richardson said.
Despite a more spacious layout, the church's new facility is actually about 50,000 square feet smaller than the present location, Richardson said.
Multiple ministry wings are joined to the sanctuary by a 13,500-square-foot atrium, which also doubles as a fellowship hall.
"It's just a whole different concept than what we had before," Richardson said. "It's a new strategy altogether."
The contractor turned the building over to the church last week, Richardson said.
The facility includes a 1,500-seat "transitional sanctuary," which provides seating for about 400 more people than the previous building.
"Our main sanctuary will be in later phases," Richardson said. "This is temporary, but it's a nice temporary."
The forthcoming sanctuary may hold upwards of 2,500, equivalent to the worship complex at North Cleveland Church of God, he said.
Between classrooms and community spaces, the new building includes about 90 flat-screen televisions, all wired to show live services, he said.
Due to initial space constrictions, however, youth will worship at the YMCA on Sundays, he said.
Tara Waldroup, minister of childhood education, said she began collecting ideas from nearly 100 church facilities across the country even before she knew about First Baptist's building plans.
"This is every children's minister's dream, to be a part of this God-sized task," she said.
The children's ministry is themed as a barnyard and a downtown, she said. There's also an indoor playground for toddlers.
A large airplane will hang from the ceiling of the kids' church facility, Richardson said, adding that the church expects a lot of rapid growth soon.
The campus will eventually include a new sanctuary, amphitheater and larger choir rooms, he said, totaling close to 300,000 square feet.
Outside of the Cleveland-based Church of God, First Baptist has the largest congregation in the county, he said.
"We're not the only church planning something big," he said. "But I think we're one of the only churches in this economy that's actually doing it."