Whitesburg dedicates new outreach facility

After 42 months, 200 committee meetings, $12.3 million dollars and a lot of prayers Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, dedicated its long-awaited Whitesburg Baptist Center Dec. 2.
   
Hundreds of joyous Whitesburg members looked on as Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer cut the official red ribbon. Immediately following, the church treated members and guests to a day-long reception replete with a brass ensemble, praise bands, refreshments and open tours.
   
Senior Pastor Jimmy Jackson could be heard above the crowd telling guests that “this building was truly a labor of love (emphasis on the word labor), but God’s hand was in it the entire time.”
   
Plans for the 78,000-sq.-foot property located just south of the church officially began in 1997, but the long-range planning committee purchased the 60 acres the center now sits on back in 1982.
   
“The building was a vision Dr. Jackson and I shared,” Terry Herald, senior associate pastor said.  “We bought the land because we knew at some point that God would fulfill it.”
   
And what a vision it turned out to be. The 40-room facility is one of the largest in Huntsville. It is equipped with a full-service grill with seating for 650, a double gymnasium, walking track, game, craft and fitness rooms, locker rooms with steam rooms, a hearthside room and an elegant chapel.
   
“We built the facility for several reasons,” Herald said. “We wanted to engage the culture. We live in a culture that is activity centered and this building will provide an open door to our community. We want it to be an outreach to the unreached.”
   
The ROC (the Re-Creation Outreach Center) is one of the primary ways Whitesburg members hope to reach the lost in their area. Members are encouraged to bring guests to work out, play basketball, power walk or just chat while the kids play in the giant playroom. The Center hopes to attract unchurched people by offering free three-month trial memberships to the fitness areas. After that, they will charge a small membership fee.
   
“We try to help our people be ministers,” Herald said. “We hope that when members bring people here they’ll take that time to minister to them. Then we’ll send forth teams into the homes of the visitors to do follow-up work.”
   
Outreach is not the only driving force behind the center. The 5,700-member church was desperate for Sunday School space. Now the singles, high school, and college students will be bused to the Center for Sunday School and the center will be used for prayer meetings on Wednesday evenings. The facility also features a huge rally room equipped with a stage and sound equipment for the youth.
   
“We want to minister to the fellowship of believers,” Herald said.  “Our facility promotes a balance of life, wholeness and wellness. It also gives our youth a safe place to ‘chill.’”
   
The Center will officially open Jan. 3, but the church plans to hold several activities in the meanwhile to warm up the place.