By Jeff Brumley
The decision to sell its property to the Atlanta Falcons didn’t come smoothly or quickly for the members of Friendship Baptist Church. And actually leaving its home of 134 years isn’t expected to come any easier.
“The last service will be an extremely emotional event, and we are talking now about how we prepare ourselves for that moment,” said Lloyd Hawk, chairman of trustees at Friendship.
The time for that is yet to be announced, but it became a certainty on Sunday when “an overwhelming majority” of members voted to sell to the NFL team for $19.5 million.
Friendship and the neighboring Mount Vernon Baptist Church are on land where city and team officials envision a new football stadium by 2017.
Negotiations took about nine months and were difficult at times. In June, the congregation rejected an offer of $13.5 million, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Friendship countered with a demand of nearly $25 million, which brought back an offer of $15.5 million from city and team negotiators.
The offer of nearly $20 million finally convinced church members there would be enough money to purchase property nearby with the ability to add a family life center and expand ministries, Hawk told ABPnews.
“It has not been a smooth or direct journey to this point,” he said.
‘It felt like a funeral’
Those who’ve experienced leaving historic, sacred structure for newer digs testify that the hardest part may be yet to come for Friendship and Mount Vernon’s ministers and members.
“At times it felt like a funeral,” said Mark Newton, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in San Marcos, Texas.
The church — then 147 years old and at its downtown location since 1928 — sold to a developer and worshiped in a school for three years before moving into new facilities in 2007.
But in the countdown to departure from the historic structure, it was common to see and hear people grieving as they recalled their own and their children’s baptisms there, weddings and funerals and having to say goodbye to favorite old Sunday school rooms.
“I had one woman say, ‘I’m just not leaving,’” Newton recalled. “I said you have to: where you’re standing is going to be bulldozed.”
Newton’s advice to Friendship’s pastors is not to squelch such sentiments, because they are part of the grieving process. Allow saddened members to express themselves and even invite them to sessions to share cherished memories.
Leadership also must be careful not to disparage the building, no matter how old or dilapidated. “Never say, ‘it’s just a building,’” Newton said. “It was the building that reminded us of God’s work.’”
But it is important to point toward the future — just as the founding members of the congregation did when they changed buildings, he added. “Cast a vision of this new building and what it will be like to be there, and that those who went before us did the same thing.”
‘That’s a heartbreaker’
The situation is somewhat different in Atlanta, where some members of Mount Vernon Baptist told local news outlets that it’s wrong to sell a church to make way for a sports facility.
“I think it’s an abomination in the sight of God for the city and the Falcons to consider bringing down two historic black churches for a stadium for a second-rate football team,” Mount Vernon member Vickie Johnson told WSB-TV.
On Sept. 19, Mount Vernon members voted 116-16 to accept a $14.5 deal from the city and the team, the station reported.
“Sixty-seven years I’ve been here,” member Gladys Morris told the station after the vote. “That’s a heartbreaker.”
There was and is plenty of heartbreak at Friendship, too, Hawk told ABPnews. The church founded in 1862 boasts a long and colorful history, including once housing Morehouse and Spellman colleges. Its first worship facility was a railroad boxcar.
Friendship also has numerous denominational ties. It is affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. Its interim pastor, Emmanuel McCall, is a past Cooperative Baptist Fellowship moderator and black-church relations director for the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.
Hawk said history and memories made led many Friendship members to oppose the sale early on. “I was born and raised at the church, and I thought it was something we should never consider,” he said.
But he and others originally opposed came around when they saw how the deal could enhance facilities and ministries, he added. “We looked at it not just emotionally, but asked what is the purpose of the church, what is our mission?” he said.
Hawk said the church hopes to announce its new location within three months and to have the design phase well underway in that time. But he also dreads the moment when he will have to leave the church he’s known all his 52 years.
“There are stories I could tell about every corner of this church,” Hawk said.