Bethel Baptist Church breaks ground on its new sanctuary

Members of Bethel Baptist Church watch the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a sanctuary on Sunday. Construction is expected to be completed by 2013.

TUSCALOOSA | It's been 10 years since the leadership of Bethel Baptist Church first started dreaming of a new, larger sanctuary next to its existing church on 30th Avenue in West End.

On Sunday, that dream took a big step toward fruition.

The Rev. Schmitt Moore, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, broke ground on the new sanctuary with other church leaders as church members celebrated the ministry's expansion. The new building, which will be built adjacent to the existing church, will be about 16,000 square feet and hold about 564 people in the new sanctuary. Construction will take about a year to complete. The church received a loan for construction through Capstone Bank.

This is a great milestone for us, and we are wonderfully blessed, Moore said.

The expanded church will help Bethel Baptist serve the community in a better way, he added, with more space for more members.

The expansion has been a long time coming, said Leon Brown, a deacon at the church.

This is what the building is about, the church's ministry to the community, Brown said. We are here thanking God for this opportunity.

The current church building was built in the 1960s and before that was located near DCH Regional Medical Center. Church member Lucille Owens has been going to Bethel Baptist her entire life and was part of the group that helped the church get built in its current location more than 40 years ago.

I'm very excited about the new building. It's going to be beautiful, Owens said. It's been a long time coming but it's a great day here.

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Bethel Baptist Church breaks ground on its new sanctuary