Our building expansion has gotten out of the ground and is beginning to show the future outline of our campus.

Over the next few weeks, I want to keep you up to date on our expansion and the associated areas.

Here is the rough outline of what we are doing.

First, we are building three parts of the expansion. The first, and the part you can see with steel being erected, will house our preschoolers (birth-four) on the first floor and our children (k-6 grade) on the second. Part of this building will be a toddler corral (my name for it) in the preschool area and a two story indoor playground for our children on the second floor.

Both of these will be near the Commons Area (which will contain a coffee shop and bookstore near the vicinity of preschool and children’s area). I envision an area for families to relax before or after worship or the other growth activities for children. This could be a place for moms and dads (or grandparents) to bring children where they are safe and happy.

The Commons area is the second part of the expansion. It will be the connector to the building we now occupy as well as to the front parking lot with an additional 450 parking spaces (giving us over 1400 onsite parking spaces). The Commons will house the bookstore, coffee shop, a family ministry area to help equip families in working together and preparing their children for the future. It will also contain several areas for groups to meet.

The first and second parts of the building will be open this time next year.

The third part of the expansion will be a new worship center to seat 2300 people. This will be stadium seating with the baptistmal pool located on the floor very near the congregation. As we designed the new worship area, we emphasized a building which will foster relationships and fellowship.

The worship center will be open in the spring of 2018. Could we have it open for Easter? We hope so.

Over the next few weeks, we will look at other areas of our expansion.

I write my Lagniappe article each week for the membership of First Baptist Church, Covington, Louisiana. I have followed this practice for the 27 years I have served this congregation. My attempt is to give them “a little something extra” in terms of information about ministries, purpose, and vision.