Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, is heading southeast to poise itself for phenomenal growth among its congregation and in Shelby County.
“We believe God wants us to have a major impact on this region and the community we are in,” said Westwood senior pastor Les Hughes. “And we need strategies for evangelism here since Shelby County is the most unchurched county in the state,” he said.
In fact, 52–56 percent of Shelby County residents are “unclaimed” by any denomination, according to the 2000 Religious Congregations and Membership Study, conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
This is a higher percentage than any other county in Alabama, noted Mickey Crawford, statistician in the information services office of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
Westwood is one of several churches growing along with the rest of Shelby County, said Hughes.
Although the last phase of Westwood’s existing 60,000-square-foot complex along Thompson Road was completed in 2000, it has become dwarfed by the rapidly growing congregation of 2,000. Westwood’s present sanctuary seats 560 people, but the new one in the first phase of construction will seat 800–1,000.
“We’re just out of room,” Hughes said. “Right now to do any more on this site would have really been a challenge,” he said. Even if Westwood enlarged the buildings where they are, they’d still have to relocate within a few years, he added.
“You can sense the Holy Spirit at work here, and to stay where we are would not be good stewardship,” Hughes said. “To whom much is given, much is required.”
Westwood looked last year at acreage near I-65 and Highway 31, but felt it would be unwise to move to the isolated area with no access road onto the property. So it looked for other land. But when the City of Alabaster announced that the Colonial Promenade — a major shopping complex — would be built on land beside the site, Westwood looked at the property again. The church will close on the land purchase in a few weeks.
“We made an offer on the (42 acres of) land and at the same time we were talking with Evangel Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Helena (about buying Westwood’s existing facilities),” Hughes explained.
The Presbyterian church and its K5–7 school — Evangel Classical Christian School — were outgrowing their facility on Hwy. 95 in Helena. Evangel made an offer on Westwood’s entire facility, and on July 27 Westwood voted to accept the offer.
Evangel’s school, under a lease agreement with Westwood, has already moved into Westwood, opening Aug. 17 in the education building. Evangel’s day care is also there.
Westwood will continue its three Sunday Schools and three worship services on Sunday mornings while sharing space with the school.
With construction expected to begin soon on Westwood’s new site, Hughes projects it will move by December 2005. He said the move will help the church become more a part of the lives of people in Alabaster and surrounding communities.
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