Two Dallas churches announce big
building plans; third already going
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Two Dallas churches have announced multi-million-dollar building projects that will be among the most expensive ever undertaken by a Texas Baptist church.
___First Baptist Church of Dallas plans a $48 million project for its downtown location. A current education and office building as well as a parking garage will be demolished to erect an eight-story building to house classrooms, offices, a bookstore, coffee and snack bar, fello
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| FIRST Baptist Church in Dallas plans an eight-story building in downtown Dallas. |
wship mall, two chapels, prayer tower, banquet hall/theater, catering facilities and underground parking.
___A few miles north of downtown, Park Cities Baptist Church plans a $35 million project for its property on Northwest Highway. Park Cities will build a three-level underground parking garage topped by a Community Life Center, gymnasium, great hall and classroom space.
___Meanwhile, construction already is under way in the Dallas suburb of Plano on phase two of Prestonwood Baptist Ch
| SEE a chart of the largest recent building projects by Texas Baptist churches here. It will open as a pdf file and can be viewed with Acrobat Reader. |
urch's facility. The current $46 million project will add to the $72 million first phase built in 1999 when the church relocated from North Dallas.
___Prestonwood's phase two includes a Tower of Faith, chapel, book store, food court, commons area, student ministry center, children's multi-purpose building, amphitheater and space for the Prestonwood Christian Academy.
___The announcement by First Baptist Church of Dallas was reported in the Dallas Morning News as a sign of the church's confidence in its historic downtown location.
___"I get no sense of the leading of the Lord to move this congregation," Pastor Mac Brunson told the church May 5. "We're in downtown Dallas for a reason."
___The new construction would replace a parking garage and the Criswell Building, built in 1953, at the intersection of Ervay and San Jacinto. Like one of the buildings to be demolished, the new building will be named for former pastor W.A. Criswell.
___First Baptist's project may be the most expensive single construction effort undertaken by any Texas Baptist church apart from a relocation.
___Other projects with the highest price tags in recent years have been Prestonwood's relocation and new facilities erected by Second Baptist Church of Houston.
___When Prestonwood members in 1997 pledged $36 million toward phase one of the relocation, Pastor Jack Graham reported it was "the largest capital fund campaign ever for a church in North America." The balance of the $72 million project was funded through sale of the church's former property and financing.
___At that point, Prestonwood eclipsed the previous capital fund-raising record set by Second Baptist, which raised $34 million in 1983 to build a new worship center and additional educational space. Just one year after Prestonwood's record-setting capital campaign, Second Baptist took the lead again, with members pledging more than $38.5 million for expansion and construction of a second campus.
___If First Baptist of Dallas reaches its goal, it will surpass the one-time fund-raising goals set by Prestonwood and Second Baptist. However, Prestonwood may retain the record f
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| PLANS for expansion at Park Cities Baptist Churchin Dallas. |
or the largest amount of money raised in a relatively short period of time. Since 1997, the church has invested $118 million in property and buildings, of which $72 million will have been raised through capital stewardship campaigns.
___The biggest capital campaign ever conducted by a Protestant church in the United States was at Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago. The non-denominational mega-church raised $80 million, according to Bill Wilson, president of RSI, a Dallas-based fund-raising firm used by Willow Creek, as well as Prestonwood and Second Baptist of Houston.
___Willow Creek, like many of the Texas churches with huge building projects, raised four times its annual income, Wilson said.
___The cost of First Baptist's downtown project will be more than three times the amount of its annual budget. Brunson pledged construction would not start until the church has half the needed money in hand.
___Such a goal might be attainable, according to information posted on the website of Cargill Associates, a Fort Worth-based fund-raising consultant to hundreds of Baptist churches. Cargill's track record with Protestant churches indicates 90 percent of its clients raise twice their annual income, 50 percent raise three times their annual income and 25 percent raise four times their annual income.
___First Baptist has engaged RSI to guide its capital campaign, and Wilson believes the historic church will find a way to fund its vision.
___Churches have "raised huge amounts of money in recent years," Wilson said. "It has been unbelievable to us. And it's not just Baptists."
___While First Baptist owns a large amount of land in downtown Dallas, the church is landlocked, which is why some existing buildings must be demolished to make way for the new construction.
___Park Cities, although located away from downtown, also is landlocked, with a major thoroughfare on one side, a shopping center on another side and residential neighborhoods on the other sides.
___The new parking garage and three-story building will be constructed on what currently is a 173-space parking lot. The new garage will provide parking for 575 cars.
___Park Cities has engaged the Genesis Group of Atlanta as its capital campaign consultant.
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