Tarpon Springs church plans to move

[Times photo: Scott Keeler] Rob Clark, senior minister at First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs, stands outside the church on Thursday. With 1,700 members, the non-denominational congregation has outgrown its building on Keystone Road and has purchased land for a new building in the Trinity area of Pasco County.

By EILEEN SCHULTE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 2, 2001

As the area has grown, First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs has become cramped. The church recently bought land for a new building.

TARPON SPRINGS -- In 1975, 35 people from First Christian Church of Clearwater began meeting in a rented bank building in Tarpon Springs. The group was assigned the task of starting a new church in what was then an area with wide-open pastures where cows likely outnumbered people.

When they spied an empty parcel of land on Old Keystone Road, they envisioned the new church. In their mind's eye, they saw worshipers coming to services on Sundays with their children. They saw them bowing their heads in prayer.

Then they built it.

Tarpon Springs has grown considerably since then. Cars speed past the church on a busy road that cuts through a small incline.

Now, the non-denominational First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs is too cramped for its 1,700 members. The parking lot is overcrowded. Officials must hire two sheriff's deputies to control traffic on days when there are services.

Sixty cars are forced to park in a lot owned by a congregation member across the street. A shuttle bus transports them to the safety of the building.

"We have built everything on this property Pinellas County will allow -- five buildings," said Rob Clark, senior minister at First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs. "We're land-locked. There are subdivisions all around us."

So, 26 years after the first church was built, a small group from the congregation was entrusted to scout a new location. They spent a year looking.

They found the perfect spot on 30 acres along Little Road in the Trinity area of Pasco County, where oak trees 70 to 80 years old grow. It's less than 4 miles away from the current church site.

The swath of property is in one of the Tampa Bay region's fastest-growing areas. Yet despite a newly built Wal-Mart supercenter and a Kash n' Karry nearby, it seems like country, Clark said.

One Saturday in March, 800 members of First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs tried the place out for themselves. They had a picnic and ate barbecue on the land. It was then they knew for sure that this was the right place to build their new church.

So they gave $3.5-million in commitmentsso the land could be purchased. The fundraising campaign was called "Forward by Faith."

The old building with the flashy lighted sign would be ideal for a 700- to 800-member church, Clark said. In the small church community, word has gotten around that it will soon be for sale.

It has a gym, a school, a fellowship center, an office complex, a music facility and a 1,000-seat sanctuary.

Clark made a deal with church members: If they would donate the money, he would make sure the land was paid for before the facility was designed and built.

There are no renderings yet. Clark said construction is still two or three years away.

"We're having the vision now to move to a larger piece of land so our children and grandchildren can worship," Clark said. "We're looking 50 years ahead."

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