{"id":333972,"date":"2026-07-09T03:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T03:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333972\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T03:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T03:52:19","slug":"alabamas-fbc-jacksonville-ready-to-break-ground-on-new-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333972\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama&#8217;s FBC Jacksonville ready to break ground on new building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been four years since members of <a href=\"https:\/\/thealabamabaptist.org\/fbc-jacksonville-selling-building-to-jsu-plans-to-merge-church-campuses\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">First Baptist Church Jacksonville sold their north campus<\/a> to Jacksonville State University, four years since their combined congregations started meeting in their EaglePoint campus (part of the church since 2008) and three years since they bought new land. <\/p>\n<p>Now they\u2019re ready to move forward as one \u2014 and have marked July 19 as groundbreaking day. The ceremony will be 5\u20137 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-174461\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FBCJ-Model-Latest-Overall-300x159.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"442\" height=\"234\"  \/>Renderings of the new building for First Baptist Church Jacksonville. (Photo courtesy of Chapman Sisson Architects)<\/p>\n<p>The church\u2019s new property is a land-locked 46 acres, which pastor Derek Staples is grateful to preserve as a gift for many FBC generations to come. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever God puts in their hearts, they\u2019ll be able to do,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>State-of-the-art campus<\/p>\n<p>Staples said the new building will house a state-of-the-art kids and youth wing, a big commons area and fellowship hall with an anterior caf\u00e9. However, the permanent worship center is not part of phase one. <\/p>\n<p>He expects it to be complete by 2030. Until then, the congregation with around 500 in Sunday morning attendance will worship in two services in what will become the permanent youth worship area. This space can comfortably fit 350 people.<\/p>\n<p>While church leadership and members had hoped to walk into their new building debt-free, a legal dispute with adjoining land owners \u2014 and the difference in costs following a few years of delay due to the litigation \u2014 means about one-third of the $14 million project will be paid off over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Hopeful and trusting\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Staples remains hopeful and trusting in the Lord\u2019s provision, calling the debt \u201cmanageable,\u201d noting the revenue from the future sale of the EaglePoint campus will go toward the remaining balance.<\/p>\n<p>The congregation has maintained unity throughout the process, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have strived for a oneness that speaks to the gospel,\u201d Staples said. \u201cAs a pastor, I just don\u2019t want to mess it up!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been four years since members of First Baptist Church Jacksonville sold their north campus to Jacksonville State&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-333972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}