QuoteFirst Baptist Church Jacksonville has laid off dozens of employees. Rumors of the layoffs have circulated for several days, and Wednesday morning, Senior Pastor Mac Brunson sent out a letter to church members saying that 14 full-time and 33 part-time positions have been eliminated from its 220-person staff.
Jeff Stoll, executive pastor of communications, said that all the positions had been filled except for a few of the part-time ones.
Those being laid off were informed last week, he said.
"The poor economic climate affects not just the business world, but it affects the church, too," Brunson said in the letter.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2013-11-27/story/first-baptist-eliminates-47-positions#ixzz2ls4qkPIP
Not a fan of FBC but always sucks when people lose their job
From the article:
"In July, the church announced plans to spend about $2 million for 29 acres to build a permanent facility in the Nocatee community in St. Johns County. The church began conducting services in Ponte Vedra High School in 2009."
I wonder if the upcoming 29 acres site is to be the new place to which the FBC might move; that is, if they were to decide to exit the city core? If so, it would be more of a drive for the members currently living in north Jax.
Of course, on Sunday, the traffic is not too bad. And too, the relatively new 295 loop around Jax will make it a matter of minutes to arrive at the church from most areas in Jax. I was about to say that the property taxes would not be as bad in St. Johns, but then... none is paid in any case.
We are all feeling negatives as a consequence of the bad economy. Let's hope the church doesn't have to endure more downturns in attendance and tithing.
I manage the auditorium at the school.
They have been meeting there since Easter 2008. They started out with a few families and have grown to about 300 on Sunday's and different groups on Wednesdays.
Paster Brunson does the service most Sundays then drives to the downtown campus.
They have been looking to build a "South campus" since they started at the school. They had a site and it fell through.
They have an admin office on the West side of 210.
It has always been my understanding that families go to the South campus most Sundays then go to the downtown campus for the large functions. I am sure this is the economic model, since the income of the Ponte Vedra and Noccatee families is higher. If they can get them interested then get them to start going downtown then it works well.
I have never heard anything about the South Campus becoming the 'Main" Church. Of course they're just renters here, so I am sure they don't share everything
They already "outsource" their Upward ministry through other area churches. Apparently they can't do it themselves anymore.
I went to a recent high school graduation in their old auditorium downtown and it was looking a little unkempt. A lot of broken fixtures and water stains. Usually a sign of budget tightening.
I don't know their current demographics but I will ask. If Mac is preaching in Nocatee then its pretty clear where they think their future is. If they were smart, they would start transforming the central Jax campus into a true urban church or when Nocatee can stand alone, turn it into an urban based university.
Adding 1200 college students to the city core would be a major score for downtown instead of the weekend drive through crowd. The trickle down would be significant.
Something to think about!
One of my pet peeves is "church flight" when the attendees look around and find out that everyone going to church don't live nearby or look like them so they move out (and on). Lame city. The mission is the same, hire the right people and start over with the people who want to be there. Don't punt, move out and sell.
Quote from: ronchamblin on November 27, 2013, 07:30:45 PM
From the article:
"In July, the church announced plans to spend about $2 million for 29 acres to build a permanent facility in the Nocatee community in St. Johns County. The church began conducting services in Ponte Vedra High School in 2009."
I wonder if the upcoming 29 acres site is to be the new place to which the FBC might move; that is, if they were to decide to exit the city core?
I can't imagine any scenario that would involve FBC exiting the city core, short of Pastor Brunson abandoning everything that FBC was built on as far as congregation building. Several years ago one of their marketing slogans was "The Miracle of Downtown Jacksonville". Dr Lindsey use to refer to the fact that many churches around the country had abandoned the urban core of their particular city as most people had moved to the suburbs. FBC continued to reach out to all areas of the county but brought them into Downtown and actually had grown at a time there was no urban life to speak of.
I have no inside knowledge but I would suspect that with the significant growth in the Nocatee/St Johns area, they felt it was a wise choice to build a campus in an area with a lot of promise. That being said, I don't see them moving south. As was said earlier, it would be a long way for Northsiders not to mention Nassau and South Ga members.
They won't be leaving downtown any time soon. They have had a presence in St. Johns for a long time and in fact have a large storefront location just off of SR210. Nocatee would be a natural location for a permanent 'second campus.'
I do know as organizer of their original Spanish ministry that in the 80's they dreamed of a 'camp' location where Christian families and their guests could enjoy conferences, seminars or just camping, canoeing, picnicking and hiking in the beauty of natural Florida. I don't know if anything ever became of this idea.
The FBC downtown location would make an excellent school or university, it's practically ready to go.
There's a school right next door already.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on November 28, 2013, 12:01:49 AM
I do know as organizer of their original Spanish ministry that in the 80's they dreamed of a 'camp' location where Christian families and their guests could enjoy conferences, seminars or just camping, canoeing, picnicking and hiking in the beauty of natural Florida. I don't know if anything ever became of this idea.
They have their land out in Hilliard- http://www.fbcjax.com/hilliard Back when I was a member, they didn't have cabins out there but it looks like they do now. Spent a decent amount of time out there, nice little setup. Although since it sounds like a good chunk of the job losses were in groundskeeping, I wonder if they're going to keep the property.
Quote from: thelakelander on November 28, 2013, 11:05:36 PM
There's a school right next door already.
I'm aware of the FSCJ school for sex offenders, I was suggesting something more substantial. A Florida Coastal Law or UF extension, or even an art school. Downtown needs less church and more young professional life.
You can't be snobbish about schools when your downtown is equivalent to being the town whore. If we focused just as much energy on making something out of FSCJ's downtown presence and programs as we are at dreaming to land places that don't want to be here, both DT and FSCJ would be completely different.
Quote from: jaxequality on November 29, 2013, 07:22:26 AM
I'm aware of the FSCJ school for sex offenders,
kind of an odd comment don't you think jaxequality?
^ I'm joking. I swear this site does more harm than good for this city. Y'all are bunch of losers. It's like you are the only folks that can have an opinion about anything that goes on around here. When you aren't pointing out everything thing that is wrong with this city, your contribution is just content that promotes other cities. It then gets worse when you founding members spend the rest of your energy attacking your own audience.
Quote from: jaxequality on November 29, 2013, 10:57:08 AM
^ I'm joking. I swear this site does more harm than good for this city. Y'all are bunch of losers. It's like you are the only folks that can have an opinion about anything that goes on around here. When you aren't pointing out everything thing that is wrong with this city, your contribution is just content that promotes other cities. It then gets worse when you founding members spend the rest of your energy attacking your own audience.
Hey jaxequality;
- Being critical of ones own city doesn't imply they are down on it
- The founders of this site have produced a significant volume of material on how to improve the city, take some time to check it out, Some of it rings good, some of it is really pie in the sky. But it does provoke thought.
- It's a blog, therefore one should expect a response that is not in line with your thoughts.
- Yes, you were being sarcastic on the FSCJ remark, next time use the little face icons so people know what your context is.
- Other cities info? Sure, because that is how someone can learn. We look at how and what other places have been successful at and can emulate it where it fits. On the flipside we look at what doesn't work and apply it so we don't repeat the mistakes.
Can there be a little oddball at times? Sure. Just move on.
Losers? I guess its a matter of perspective.
I'm not referring to myself. Just look at the way you conduct yourselves. There is an alga rhythm of exactly what I mentioned above. It's not thanksgiving anymore, it's Black Friday he he lol. Did you miss the FSCJ expose on the high rate of sex offenders? I guess so.
Sorry, jaxequality, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by suggesting that we should do more with FSCJ, in regards to having an anchor of higher learning in downtown. My first year of school was at a community college (Polk) that was pretty well integrated into the neighborhoods surrounding it. Right now, Florida's latest university (Florida Polytechnic University) is growing out of one of its branch campuses, so my perspective is somewhat different regarding FSCJ and the role it can play in DT. Also, I come from a locker room environment when it comes to ribbing people and talking trash, so at times I forget that others can be a lot more sensitive. I didn't think my comment was harsh but sorry if it came off that way. Nothing personal.
Quote from: stephendare on November 29, 2013, 11:39:34 AMI did miss the sex offenders thing.
gpt a link?
Here you go: http://members.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2013-11-26/story/registry-shows-high-number-sex-offenders-jacksonville-campuses