SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- When Pastor Robert Emmitt moved the Community Bible Church (CBC) to its current North San Antonio site some four years ago, he believed the 25 acres and the 58,000-square-foot building CBC had owned would last the congregation for the next five years.
But according to the San Antonio Business Journal, he didn't expect to gain 1,000 new members after CBC's opening weekend.
To accommodate the church's growth for at least the next couple of years, CBC last year purchased another 36 acres of land adjacent to its current site. Work recently began on a project that will ultimately give CBC a new 92,700-square-foot sanctuary and a 37,200-square-foot educational building.
Construction on the sanctuary will begin in August and should be finished by the fall 2004. Construction on the education building is expected to commence in the summer of 2004 and be finished by spring 2005.
Total construction costs will range between $13 million and $17 million, Emmitt said.
Since starting in the restaurant of a hotel in 1990, Community Bible Church has grown to about 5,500 members.
