CHURCH ON THE MOVE: Location, location, location_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

CHURCH ON THE MOVE:
Location, location, location

By George Henson

Staff Writer

FRISCO–Most churches know that a key to their growth is found in the old axiom location, location, location.

But what happens when the ideal location changes?

A Frisco church decided to move–not only the congregation, but the building as well. Only the building and congregation went separate ways.

Pastor Ray Wilkins stands in front of the historic home of Lebanon Baptist Church, which has been moved to a new location in a historic district as the congregation prepares to occupy a new place of its own.

For many years, Lebanon Baptist Church stood at the center of the community of Lebanon, near the school, store and a handful of homes that formed the core for hundreds of acres of farm land.

But the town of Lebanon dwindled from its small beginnings to nothingness. All that remains to mark the town's existence are the church, a road and the memories of a few long-time residents.

Decades ago, Lebanon was annexed by the burgeoning city of Frisco, which had grown because it sits on the rail line. In time, the church found itself in the midst of development, but not residential development. The cotton fields of 1874 yielded to development of businesses along Preston Road, including the 160-store Stonebriar Centre shopping mall.

The church now sat on prime real estate, but its very location was strangling its chances for survival.

“All we owned was an acre, and we really couldn't really afford to buy any more land to make the improvements we needed to make,” Pastor Ray Wilkins said.

The age of the building, constructed in 1904, also was not appealing to many of the younger professional families moving into the area.

“We had a lot of visitors, but we couldn't get them to come back,” he lamented. Many couples wanted to have wedding ceremonies in the quaint, old-fashioned church, but they did not want to invest their lives there.

So the church decided on a change of location.

The building has moved to downtown Frisco, where it will become part of a large historical area.

The church itself is moving about a quarter-mile from the old location. The new location sits across the street from a school and in the middle of more than 100 homes less than five years old with more on the way.

“The value of the land was such that we were able to get rid of the one acre and buy seven acres and still have money left over to build,” Wilkins said.

Until the church's new building is completed next summer, the congregation is meeting at a local elementary school. The church cannot meet in the school across from its new location because that is a middle school, and only elementary schools are available to churches in Frisco.

The 50 to 60 people attending each week are a mixture of senior adults and young married couples in their 20s, Wilkins said. “What we're missing is the people my age, in the 30 to 40 range.”

Still, some members have long and cherished memories attached to the building recently sold.

“Some of our seniors are not crazy about selling it, but they are on board with it,” Wilkins explained. “They are excited and sad at the same time. It's a mixture of emotions with them, but they want to do what needs to be done to reach people for Christ.”

The bell installed at the church in 1904 is making the move to the new site with the congregation.

In the end, Wilkins said, the best location for a church to be is the center of God's will.