By David Stone
The Belton Journal
The new $25-million First Baptist Church of Belton is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2027, Executive Pastor Mike Morrow said this week.
“I’m hoping we will be in the new facility in time for Easter services in 2027.”
Ground was broken for the new church — located at 1308 W MLK Jr Avenue — in May and site work began at the first of August. Land for the new building was acquired through a land swap with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The university likely will replace the current First Baptist with buildings needed for continued growth.
“The general contractor estimates that construction will take about 18 months to complete,” Morrow said.
“The overall size of the new building will actually be smaller than the total square footage of our current church building,” he added. “But, we will have a larger sanctuary.”
Morrow said the current church is about 110,000 square feet and the sanctuary seats 1,000 people. The new facility will be just over half the size — 66,000 square feet. The sanctuary, however, will seat approximately 1,300.
“It’s a reorganization of space,” he said. “We will have some amenities the current church doesn’t have.”
Included in the future First Baptist is a large gathering space that stretches the entire length of the building.
“The gathering space will be a significant portion of the total square feet,” he said. “It will include our welcome center, a coffee shop and space for gatherings. We have a lobby in our current church, but nothing this large.”
“The new building will include 28 Sunday school rooms — 12 adult rooms and 16 for children and youth,” Morrow said. “We also will have a large gymnasium and administrative offices.”
“The gym will house a full basketball court and three pickleball courts,” he added. “It will be used for recreation, but we can also set up for banquets in the gym.”
The new church is being constructed by S-B Construction Group of Indiana.
“They specialize in commercial work,” Morrow said. “They have an entire division dedicated to building churches and Christian schools.”
“The new building has been a heartbeat for First Baptist for several years — it started before I was here,” he said. “The church did extensive research to determine if the current facilities could be renovated or if a new building was needed.”
The research revealed that renovation costs could top $32 million, so a land swap was engineered with UMHB. The new facility was designed by Utah-based Building God’s Way.
“This is an exciting time for First Baptist Church,” Morrow concluded. “We are looking forward to the new church.”
