 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Baptists to converge on site of a dream
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
LUTZ -- If God heeds prayers for good weather, this morning should be gorgeous. That's because Tampa Bay's biggest church, Idlewild Baptist, is worshipping outdoors today under nothing but an autumn sky to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new home. "We're going to be out there with about 4,000 folding chairs," said Ken Smith, the church's minister through administration. The event is to include a group photograph of Idlewild's "entire church family" -- shot from a helicopter. That will be followed by a catered lunch ($6 for adults, $4 for children). Hillsborough deputies will control traffic on the nearest roads, Van Dyke Road and N Dale Mabry Highway, Smith said. Idlewild, with some 8,500 members already, is building a church it can grow into. Its first phase will consist of a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a 35,000-square-foot lobby and a pair of connected, two-story wings with dozens of Bible study classrooms. The church's 400,000-square-foot first phase is to cost more than $70-million, including land, furnishings and a new road connecting Dale Mabry to Crystal Lake Road, Smith said. It essentially will be a single massive building off the northwest corner of Lake Reinheimer. Idlewild's current church on Bearss Avenue features a cavernous mingling lobby, called the "Gatheria," and the church is expanding the concept at its Lutz site. The new Gatheria will accommodate 42 25-foot-tall palms, balconies, a cafe and a bookstore. "That whole central lobby is going to be phenomenal," said Tom Franchina, Idlewild's project manager. The Gatheria eventually could be the hub of five major structures. Later phases are to enlarge the church beyond 750,000 square feet. They will add a recreation-oriented family life center, a children's wing, a fellowship hall and a small island wedding chapel. The family life center will be off the lake's western shore, crowning a cluster of ballfields. But the first phase isn't scheduled for completion until late spring 2005. Actual construction is to begin next month. At that point, Idlewild's current campus is to become the new home of the Cambridge School, formerly Seminole Presbyterian School. Cambridge has agreed to buy the property for $10.9-million, and is planning to add three buildings and athletic fields. Smith said no school or day care center is planned by Idlewild. "We've been up to our ears in just growing a church," he said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
