The church will move about six miles north to the site, which will have five buildings and 1,100 parking spaces. The new main worship facility will have a glass, brick and stucco facade and several prominent white crosses, according to church building plans. The sanctuary will seat 4,000, which is double the congregation's current space at the Southwest Baltimore site.
The site will also include a banquet hall, a chapel for small weddings and funerals, a health and fitness center, and classrooms for ministry training and technology training.
It's a far cry from the church's beginnings, when its founder, the Rev. Junius Gray, began conducting services in a basement in 1899 with fewer than 20 members.
Yesterday, church leaders and elected officials, including Mayor Sheila Dixon and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., spoke at the groundbreaking under a white canopy tent. Hymns played softly in the background.
"It's a great sign for health of the neighborhood when a church moves in," Smith said. "On behalf of Baltimore County, welcome, and thank you for coming our way."
The church members who came hauled their own lawn chairs and cooled themselves with paper fans, which had an image of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the day of his "I Have a Dream" speech.
The Rev. Harold A. Carter from New Shiloh Baptist Church blessed the new grounds in the final prayer of the ceremony: "May this holy altar be the place where lives will be changed and folks will get to know the Lord."
After his prayer, the congregation began singing a hymn, thanking God for their new home.
madison.park@baltsun.com
