The newly renovated Lindsay Auditorium currently used by First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla. (Photo courtesy of Paragon 360)<\/p>\n He blamed high maintenance costs and a 20-year decline in membership \u2014 which was 28,000 at its peak \u2014 for the need to reduce campus size and operations. \u201cWhat we can\u2019t do on one block, we won\u2019t do,\u201d Lambert said.<\/p>\n The Jax Examiner<\/a> speculated that First Baptist also had a part in its downtown membership falling to 4,000 in 2019 by becoming multi-site. \u201cThe church also helped to continue that decrease in membership at its downtown campus by offering satellite churches in Ortega and Nocatee.\u201d<\/p>\n While the congregation initially planned to sell 90% of its properties all at once, the pandemic necessitated unloading parcels piecemeal, including the $1.13 million sale of two buildings and surface lots in 2020<\/a>, the $8.39 million sale of two blocks and the $6.10 million sale of the auditorium and a parking garage in 2022, the Daily Record<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the city issued a demolition permit in June for the former church auditorium where Gateway Jax intends to build a 14-story, mixed-use structure with apartments and a grocery store, the newspaper recently reported<\/a>. The demolition is continuing despite unresolved issues between the City Council and developer over more than $49 million in incentives.<\/p>\n As recently as Aug. 9, The Florida Times-Union<\/a> images of the work show wide-open doors revealing crumbling walls and ceilings inside the former auditorium, a section of the ravaged upstairs pew-area and one end of the building with a large section of missing wall. The massive worship space was dubbed the \u201cHomerdome,\u201d a reference to former pastors Homer Lindsay Sr. and Homer Lindsay Jr.<\/p>\n The church\u2019s website describes a current downtown campus of two buildings with one auditorium each, a small park, two parking garages and one parking lot. Facilities include counseling offices and multiple age groups and counseling offices.<\/p>\n Jerry Vines<\/p>\n First Baptist once was known as the \u201cMiracle of Downtown Jacksonville<\/a>\u201d for scooping up wide swaths of the city\u2019s downtown as retailers and department stores departed for the suburbs beginning in the 1970s. Former co-pastors Homer Lindsay Sr. and Homer Lindsay Jr., followed by Jerry Vines, made the church a social and political force as the church became the third-largest in the SBC at one time.<\/p>\n Vines was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the \u201cconservative resurgence\u201d and is the subject of an upcoming episode of BNG\u2019s \u201cStuck in the Middle with You\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n The church has been the site of controversy, as well. Preaching in 1992 in the auditorium now being demolished, Vines declared Islam\u2019s Prophet Muhammad to be a \u201cdemon-possessed pedophile.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2008, then lead-pastor Mac Brunson was sued by an anonymous blogger<\/a> critical of the church who alleged the First Baptist convinced one of its members, a sheriff\u2019s deputy, to open an investigation into his identity. The case eventually was settled.<\/p>\n Heath Lambert<\/p>\n Lambert stirred controversy<\/a> of his own in 2023 by requiring church members to sign onto a sexuality statement that decreed marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman and male and female are the only God-given genders.<\/p>\n Refusal to sign constituted a resignation of membership, according to an explanation<\/a> on First Baptist\u2019s website.<\/p>\n The downtown church currently meets in a newly renovated Lindsay Auditorium originally built in 1976 and updated in 2021.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Related:<\/p>\n Megachurches aren\u2019t forever<\/a> | Analysis by Mark Wingfield<\/p>\n When a former megachurch becomes a satellite congregation<\/a> | Analysis by Mark Wingfield<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-9.59.24-AM.png\")
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<\/a>The church\u2019s website indicates both campuses<\/a> remain in operation.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0glk2ywbz06vfz0yrgae_400x400-300x238.jpeg\")
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