A rendering of the future FBC Batesville church building. (Submitted)
BATESVILLE, Ark. –First Baptist Church in Batesville recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its new 26,000-square-foot church building.
The new church facility, along with a 4,400-square-foot secondary building to house various ministries, is being built on a 15-acre site along Eagle Mountain Boulevard in Batesville, about 3 miles from the church’s current location on East Main Street. The new location will better accommodate future growth. At their current location, the church is landlocked, limiting opportunity for expansion.
“We’re surrounded on all four sides by street … having this acreage is going to be phenomenal for being able to do more activities for our kids and the community. We’ve got big plans to engage our community in this building,” said Pastor Stacy Reed.
Church Administrator Gene Tulberg said the church has had a vision for new facilities for about 40 years. It took a while for the church to find the property and then work up a potential design and fundraise.
“There have been days we have sat and prayed and cried out to God because we just couldn’t see, but timing was everything because when it was His time everything just opened up. Doors that had not been opened were opened and we just were able to faithfully walk through them,” he said. “It’s been a process, but I think we’ve learned a lot through it about prayer and patience.”
Unlike their current church building, which is three or four different levels, the new facility will be all one level, making it more handicap accessible. Additionally, the new auditorium will seat approximately 600 people, double their current capacity. The new building will also modernize their children’s and classroom spaces. A majority of the new building will be multipurpose. A major change will be a space they are calling the Gathering Space, where folks can gather and fellowship before and after services.
Also, the new church building will have one primary entrance, allowing guests to know where to go. The current building has seven entrances. “There are lots of people that come and go and never see each other depending on where they park,” he said. Furthermore, the new location will offer more parking.
Reed said they have done their best at their current location and are excited about the future. “I think we can honestly tell our forefathers that we have used this building to its potential, that we’ve done all we can with it,” he said.
The church bought the property along Eagle Mountain Boulevard about six years ago and utilized it during COVID. They transitioned to using the property for drive-in church. The services were transmitted on FM radio, and people would park and listen.
“We actually grew as a church during COVID, and a transformation started happening,” he said. Tulberg said they were a typical 170-plus year-old Southern Baptist church on Main Street, and for a while every year their average age got one year older. Now, the church is full of young families. The new location will allow them to better minister to all the families who now and will call First Baptist Batesville home.
“We treat this as a launch, a launch of a new church,” Reed said. “We’re truly relaunching a 178-year-old church because the Lord has been moving since COVID. It allowed us to truly take a look at our ministries and ask, which of these ministries is accomplishing our mission of making disciples? Which ones are we just nursing because we’ve always done them? And it gave us a chance to evaluate and fine tune some things. Now, we’re still fine tuning, but it gave us a chance to reset some things and out of COVID, our church recognized the need for elders, the plurality of elders in our church, who have come alongside me. Gene is one of those, and they have prayed with me every week. We pray for God’s vision for our church, and they have been key in helping this process of relaunching who we’re going to look like in the 21st century. We’re working as a church body to make sure that we are the new church before we go into a new building.”
The groundbreaking was held Sept. 28. Construction is estimated to be a 14-month project. First Baptist Batesville could potentially move into the new building by the end of next year. The work is being completed by FARCO Construction Company. The church worked on the design of the new building with local architect Zach Mobley.
The total cost of the building project is roughly $7.5 million. The congregation has so far raised half of that.
“Our folks have been so good. They have just responded in giving for this ministry vision; while also not failing to give so we can continue the ministries we’re doing,” Reed said. “It’s been amazing. We’re still able to be engaged in the global mission, local mission, state mission, while building what we feel like the Lord has called us to do.”
The church was founded in 1847. The first building was a small house by the river in Batesville. The next church building was built near the train depot in town. During the Civil War, it was taken over by the Confederates and then the Union. After the Civil War, the church relocated, but the economy was tough. They built a third church building but lost it to foreclosure for a $55 debt. A deacon then bought the current corner of Sixth and Main Street for the church in the 1870s. They built a modest chapel. Years later, that chapel was torn down, and the current building was erected in 1924.
“There’s been a First Baptist Batesville almost as long as there’s been a Batesville, and we want people to know they are loved, they are wanted, and we will walk through life with them,” Reed said. “That really is what our biggest goal is because I think that meets the expectations of the Lord. He’s kept His hand in this, and it’s just one of those moments that you rarely get to say it, but you get to say, I’ve seen God do mountain moving work. It’s been really, really wonderful to see Him do that.”
