River Bluff Fellowship plans new facility

River Bluff, an extension of First Baptist Church, 525 South Ave., has been meeting at the Stained Glass Theatre in Ozark since 2003.

First Baptist Church has a congregation of 700; 400 attend in Springfield, 200 attend River Bluff Fellowship, and the remainder are involved with the church’s Hispanic mission.

“River Bluff Fellowship has been a vision of our church – to reach out to a part of our community that we may not be able to reach here at our South Avenue location,” said Scott Watson, River Bluff pastor, who has been with First Baptist for more than 17 years.

First Baptist and River Bluff act as one church with two separate meeting sites.

While the theater provides River Bluff with a forum for creativity – the settings change with weekly production sets, and themes are sometimes incorporated into services – the new building will provide more amenities, and some necessities, such as a baptistery.

Unique space

During the fellowship’s tenure at Stained Glass Theatre, Watson has performed baptisms in the pool at a neighboring hotel. While this tradition will end with the new building, others will continue. Watson said it’s likely that the fellowship will continue to include drama and music in their weekly worship meetings, and Watson said the new church also will encourage socializing among congregants.

“At Stained Glass, we have a big open foyer and one of the best things is that people just converge there. They hang out eating doughnuts and drinking coffee,” Watson said.

“Sometimes I can hardly get them in the church, but what that means is that this community is working. Our church members actually come to church early just so they can see each other,” he added.

River Bluff’s new meeting site will be on 25 acres of land that was purchased using $750,000 in gift funds for the purchase.

“We feel like God opened a door for us to have that property,” Watson said. “”If you look at the demographics of that area, there is building going on everywhere and a lot of young families moving into the area.”

The budget for the building is set at $800,000, with the congregation pledging to contribute $600,000 and the church seeking a loan for the remainder. To date, $264,000 has been contributed toward the building fund.

Architect Jim Stufflebeam of Sapp Design Associates PC – and a member of First Baptist Church – is serving as the architect for the new building.

Once plans are finalized, the church will take construction bids.

According to Michael Overton, pastor of First Baptist Church, the exterior will be “a pretty standard metal building. It will look like a typical church on the inside, but a little bit more modern.”

He added that the church is expecting substantial growth for both congregations.

“We believe that our reputation and 153-year history add credibility to that ministry. So people are going to be reached and helped. That’s a positive situation and it’s good to be a part of it.” [[In-content Ad]]