DALLAS (ABP) -- First Baptist Church in Dallas has launched a $130 million building project that includes the congregation's first entirely new sanctuary since the 1890s.

Once considered the largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention, First Baptist Church has declined from 25,000 members under its legendary pastor of 50 years, W.A. Criswell, to about 11,000 today.

First Baptist Church is hoping to raise $130 million over three years to pay for its new building.

Under leadership of Robert Jeffress, who took over as pastor in 2007, leaders said the church is growing again, but present facilities are inadequate for innovative ministries needed to reach today's generation.

The plans for the church campus include a high-tech, 3,000-seat worship center, which will double the church's current worship capacity. There will also be an education center and 500-space parking garage.

Several of seven major buildings currently in the church's sprawling complex on six city blocks will be demolished to make way for construction. The current historic sanctuary will remain, with a steeple restored to its original height. It will continue to be used for weddings, funerals and special events.

Robert Jeffress became pastor of the Dallas church in 2007.

New landmark features include a towering stone waterfall topped with a luminescent cross. A shallow pool surrounded by green space will provide both a common area for downtown residents and guests and a place for open-air baptism services.

"We're creating what I like to call a spiritual oasis in the middle of downtown Dallas," Jeffress said Oct. 3 on Dallas radio station KBCI. "It is going to be the most beautiful facility in downtown Dallas."

With construction scheduled to begin July 2010 and expected take about two-and-a-half years to complete, the church is one of several major construction projects ongoing in downtown Dallas. In October, the $350 million AT&T Performing Arts Center opened. In September, ground was broken for a $500 million Convention Center Hotel.

In the Dallas suburb of Arlington, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys recently christened a new state-of-the-art football stadium. 

"I think if Jerry Jones can build a $1.3 billion temple to the god of sports out there in Arlington, we can spend a 10th of that, which is what we're doing, $130 million, to build a facility for the glory of the one and only God," Jeffress quipped on KBCI.

--Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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