DALLAS (ABP) — Prestonwood Baptist Church, the 25,000-member megachurch near Dallas, has announced plans to build a second facility roughly 20 miles north of the existing campus.
Former Southern Baptist president Jack Graham has served as pastor at Prestonwood, one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the nation, since 1989.
In a March 26 address, Graham told congregants the second location would not be a new church or a satellite church. Instead, he said, it'll be a second branch of Prestonwood. “We'll be one church to the glory of God.”
“We want to do this to reach people for Christ in these communities,” Graham said about the burgeoning neighborhoods in the north Texas area. “The timing is right to place a regional congregation at that site.”
Graham said he and church leaders had prayed about the location for roughly 15 months before an unnamed group from the area called him to recommend building at the proposed site. In addition to the rapidly increasing development in the north Dallas suburbs, the call helped confirm the decision to move, he said.
The proposed addition will be the third major move in Prestonwood's history, with the church starting at a park recreation center before moving to a site in north Dallas in 1979. Twenty years later, the church moved to its present complex in Plano, which covers 140 acres and has a 7,000-seat auditorium.
“We're not going to be a congregation that waits for people to come here,” Graham said in his speech. “We're not going to be a congregation that coasts, or rests on the past.”
A press release said the plans for the new 120-acre site include a children's wing, leadership training center and upgraded broadcast equipment. Graham also mentioned adding space for large group meetings and adult education rooms.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the church operating budget is $27 million. Church leaders expect to begin fund-raising next fall.
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