As we had reported last week in our article titled Local Mega Church may return to its roots First Baptist Church, Jacksonville’s downtown footprint is going to be getting smaller, even smaller than we had originally been told. Latest information finds them going from 10 city blocks to one.
What brought this on? For starters, basic math.
No organization can go from a membership of 28,000 plus to less than 4,000 and continue with business as usual. The 4,000 membership number is generous and a dramatic drop from a year back when the number was over 6,000.
That was before, now senior pastor, Heath Lambert and a group of deacons ran a coup of sorts to ouster, then senior pastor, Dr. Mac Brunson. There has yet to be a satisfactory explanation for that round of shenanigans. Evidently many within the church took issue as the drop off in membership was dramatic.
The church also helped to continue that decrease in membership at its downtown campus by offering satellite churches in Ortega and Nocatee. Whether those locations will be impacted by today’s decision remains unclear at this time.
FBC Jax is not alone, as reported in Gallup BY JEFFREY M. JONES
U.S. Church Membership Down Sharply in Past Two Decades
“U.S. church membership was 70% or higher from 1937 through 1976, falling modestly to an average of 68% in the 1970s through the 1990s. The past 20 years have seen an acceleration in the drop-off, with a 20-percentage-point decline since 1999 and more than half of that change occurring since the start of the current decade.”
When you own a dozen plus properties you also own their upkeep. When the cost of that upkeep is more than your income, in the case of the church, the tithe, you start to bleed.
The church is big on the blood of Christ, but not so much when the red is in the bank balance.
Of course that didn’t stop FBC from constructing their Nocatee satellite church, formerly known as First Baptist Church South Campus, earlier this year. The 20,000 plus square foot facility cost just under 6 million to build.
Those costs plus an annual cost of 7 million to maintain FBC Downtown Campus buildings, while at the same time having deferred maintenance costs of just under 40 million dollars found the Lord’s storehouse running short.
Senior Pastor Heath Lambert decided it was time for bold action.
The church needed a plan or the church would be bankrupted by the cost of upkeep for properties they didn’t use and or didn’t need.
That plan is to reform the church within the borders of Church, Hogan, Laura and Ashley streets, with the Hobson being the worship center. The remaining properties would be sold to cover the cost of renovations needed to make that happen.
This morning Lambert asked the church membership for permission to take out a 30 million dollar loan. The loan would be repaid with money from the sale of unneeded properties. This goes directly against long time teachings of the church, but evidently church bylaws had been rewritten to allow it.
Dr Homer G Lindsay Jr was spinning in his grave for sure. His daughter was there crying, via video, and former senior pastor Dr. Mac Brunson, now at Valleydale Church in Birmingham, Alabama was more than likely scratching his head, wondering, what happened to the millions of dollars he had raised for FBC ‘s capital improvements via a fundraising drive, right before his ouster?
All that aside, Lambert called for a vote, all those in favor stood, and then, all those opposed, likewise stood.
I’m sure some of those present half expected Homer G to walk through those doors and stand in opposition of a 30 million dollar bank loan.
He didn’t, and Lambert got the okay for the 30 million dollar loan. Jacksonville, Florida, change is coming to your downtown.
