One of Lutz’s oldest buildings is getting a makeover.
The First Baptist Church of Lutz, originally built in 1944 (and rebuilt in the early 1960s after a fire), is set to get a $3 million renovation, expected to be completed around May 2023.
“This church was started in a member’s living room in the 1940s and it’s just been adding buildings over time,” Administrative Pastor Paul Vahue said. “The church is looking tired and old, so it’s getting a facelift. We’ll give the church a brand new modern glass entrance and we’re all really excited about it.”
With the renovation, the entire front of the church will be enclosed with an entirely new look.
The church also will add an atrium that will be the centerpiece and will connect the sanctuary to the fellowship hall.
The atrium will be a large open space for welcoming guests, checking in children to the children’s wing, and hosting events.
There also will be new, larger, handicap-accessible restrooms at the front of the fellowship hall, on both the first and second floors.
During the renovation, the main sanctuary will be unaffected, so services will remain there.
The construction work, however, will require several community groups, such as home-schooled students and Boy Scouts who meet at the church, to relocate their meetings to other buildings on the church campus.
So the upcoming year is expected to have a hectic look at the First Baptist Church of Lutz, but it will be a most welcome one.
“Many parents didn’t want to bring their kids to this aging building where it just looks like a blast from the past,” Vahue said. “People like stuff that is new and we want to get modern here. The church isn’t going anywhere — it’s just going to get modern and new.”
Published April 20, 2022
