By the late 1970s, Trinity Baptist Church was looking toward a permanent sanctuary.
The church had already grown through earlier building seasons. Educational space had been added. Fellowship space had been developed. Ministries had expanded. But the desire for a permanent sanctuary remained an important part of the congregation’s long-range vision.
On July 6, 1976, Bob Brooks presented the Deacons’ recommendation to establish a building fund for the sole purpose of constructing a sanctuary.
The following year, on April 15, 1977, the church elected a Long-Range Planning Committee. The committee would serve until a Building Committee for the permanent sanctuary was formed.
In a special business meeting on December 11, 1977, the Long-Range Planning Committee presented several proposals. They recommended that the church enter a building program to construct a permanent sanctuary, with the total cost not to exceed $700,000. They also recommended that a Sanctuary Building Committee be nominated and elected, and that the congregation undertake a special fundraising drive during the first six months of 1978.
The proposals passed by a show of hands, with no dissenting votes.
The anniversary book records the feeling of that moment simply: “The word was ‘move ahead.’”
That sentence carries the spirit of the story.
Moving ahead did not mean everything would be simple. In the months that followed, the church would approve plans, seek bids, discover that costs were beyond its financial abilities, and send plans back to the drawing board. The process required patience, revision, and continued commitment.
But in December 1977, the congregation agreed to take the next step.
On January 11, 1978, the church voted unanimously to elect the Sanctuary Building Committee. The members were Bill Granberry, Gwen Scudder, Tom Dimmock, Grace Dalton, Martha Stephenson, Channing Stone, and George Pearson.
Plans continued to develop. In November 1978, the church voted unanimously to proceed with proposed sanctuary plans. In January 1979, final plans were approved and bids were sought. When the bids proved too high, the plans were revised. On September 5, 1979, new plans were approved unanimously, and a bid was accepted.
The Groundbreaking Service was held on November 18, 1979.
The sanctuary vision was not fulfilled in a single meeting. It took years of planning, giving, adjusting, and continuing forward. But the words from 1977 still stand out.
The word was “move ahead.”
Read More in 70 Years at Trinity
This story was drawn from 70 Years at Trinity: February 5, 1956 – May 3, 2026, prepared in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Trinity Baptist Church.
For more about Trinity’s sanctuary planning, Long-Range Planning Committee, Sanctuary Building Committee, and groundbreaking, see pages 28–30 of the anniversary book.
