By Brian Blackwell, Message staff writer
BOSSIER CITY, La. (LBM) – More than 1,400 members and guests packed the newly finished facilities of the First Baptist Church in Bossier City, July 11, for a special time of worship and celebration 31 months after a fire destroyed much of the buildings on campus.
“This rebuild journey has been filled with both challenges and victories,” Pastor Brad Jurkovich told the Baptist Message. “I believe God is giving us a season of victory at this time so that we are stronger than ever to share Jesus with our city, nation and world. Celebration Sunday was a powerful step in seeing God do incredible things in the coming years.”
Construction of the $20 million, 70,000-square-foot building was completed in early July and included a new chapel that incorporates some of the more traditional features of the original building that was destroyed, such as pew seating, but also modern elements, such as technology upgrades that allow multi-media presentations. The rebuilt campus includes a student center, foyer/event center and space for Sunday school classes and other small groups to meet.
RESELIENT AMID ADVERSITY
On Dec. 10, 2018, a three-alarm fire began at 5:30 a.m., originating with an uninterruptible power supply backup battery for a computer. The flames began in an office space near Faith Chapel — the original worship center — and spread quickly to the attic and other buildings including the childcare center and various youth facilities. About 65 firefighters fought the blaze, finally extinguishing it about 3:30 p.m. that same day.
Only the worship center, Tiny Town preschool area and some of the administrative offices were not damaged.
Rather than fold, the church rallied and chose to rise above the ashes.
The congregation held a meeting in the Bossier Civic Center two days later to pray, worship and organize for recovery, and then gathered Dec. 16, 2018, to look ahead to the future during the first Sunday morning worship service after the fire.
Once construction plans were finalized, a groundbreaking ceremony was held Sept. 29, 2019.
Jurkovich offered that, early on, the thought of rebuilding so much of the campus was overwhelming to him, but he knew God would give the church strength to persevere.
“You can sit there with any strategy when it strikes and be overwhelmed and you feel that on a thousand different levels,” he said. “As a pastor you go ‘Lord will we hang tough, fight through this and persevere.’ I am so thankful he gave us a spirit of courage and commitment. It would have been so easy to give up, especially after we were dealt another blow with the pandemic.
“Even in the midst of all this, the Lord put things in front of us that are pretty cool,” he continued. “I am proud of our staff team for standing strong, I am proud of our church leadership for keeping the faith. During the pandemic we could have been scared but we knew God provided the finances and the moment.”
CONTINUED BLESSINGS
In the last few months alone, Jurkcovich said, God has moved powerfully through First Bossier:
— During the last week in June, 13 students stepped forward at a beach camp for baptism, and 22 new believers were baptized during the worship service on campus.
— A month before that, former New Orleans Saint quarterback Drew Brees, a devout Christian, signed a partnership with First Bossier’s sports outreach to bring a flag football league to its Freedom Fields, with an anticipated September kickoff. His “Football ‘N’America” league has 23 locations around the nation, including First Bossier.
— The campus hosted more than 4,000 people for an annual “Eggstravaganza” celebration for Easter, and another 5,000 folks showed up for a fireworks event the Sunday night before Memorial Day to kick-off the summer.
“You could tell that even in the midst of a rebuild there are just connecting points happening as a ministry to reach people for Christ and strengthen the church,” Jurkovich said. “This is what we are about and after what we went through two-and-a-half years, it has all been very encouraging.”
