First Baptist Church of Gainesville members broke ground Sunday for a new music suite building. The church has had plans to build a new music facility since 2008.
“By the early 2000s, we had kind of run out of space for our adult choir to rehearse,” First Baptist Church music minister Rev. Mark Green said. “We drew up plans for this new space, and started a big building program around 2006 to 2007. That's when we built our banquet hall. This [music suite] was to be the next phase. But when the economy tanked in 2008, we had to put it on hold, and it's just been on hold for a long time.”
The building will have a larger choir and orchestra rehearsal room, a recording studio and private teaching rooms for First Baptist Church’s performing arts academy.
“We currently offer lessons like violin, cello, woodwinds, and piano,” Green said. “We will hope to, once we can get into this new space, provide more teaching areas and work to build up that program to have more offerings for the community to come in and study different instruments or [the] voice.”
The music suite will be built outside the chapel’s sanctuary. First Baptist Church senior pastor Rev. Jeremy Shoulta is hopeful that construction will be complete at the end of 2022.
“Building supplies and such are slower to come in,” Shoulta said. “However, we still believe that the timeline will allow us to complete the building by the end of the year. We're not 100 percent sure that's the way it's gonna happen as these things can go, but we are prayerful and hopeful.”
Supply-related issues have already delayed the suite’s construction.
“They were planning to start on April 27,” Green said. “I think that's been pushed back a couple of weeks because of some of the products they have ordered, like steel. It’s been later coming in than they were hoping for. They should be able to start by early May.”
The project will cost $2.1 million dollars and will be built by Carrol Daniel Construction. First Baptist Church used church donations to fund the project.
“When we've had different church members or choir members pass away, a lot of times people would give toward the fund in memory of that person or in honor of someone,” Green said.
An anonymous donor went to Carrol Daniel last year to ask how much more money was needed to fund the project. The individual donated the project’s remaining funds after that conversation.
“We've literally been working toward that for 15 plus years,” Green said. “We’re very excited about the possibilities for future ministry, teaching and being able to have people from our community use it as well.”
