A local church recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion project, celebrating its growth in attendance and outreach ministries.

First Free Will Baptist Church of Washington held the ceremony Oct. 5, bringing together its congregation and several community figures, said Senior Pastor Todd Parrish. The church is adding a 1,600-square-foot welcome center and renovating its 3,500-square-foot sanctuary, expanding to add room for 100 more seats to meet the church’s growing attendance. In attendance were Washington Mayor Mac Hodges, Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson and Washington City Council member William Pitt, Parrish said.

Prior to the groundbreaking, the church held its morning worship service and welcomed guests for a luncheon, Parrish said. It also started a capital campaign, which engages the church in seeking funds to raise $650,000 for the project. The church has secured a loan from First Bank to start construction of the center and renovation of the sanctuary. Ashley Harris, a member of the church’s executive board and church treasurer, said he expresses gratitude for those who partnered with the church and made the setting the project in motion possible—William Taylor from First Bank, who provided the financing, Bart Collins with Hudson Brothers, the construction contractor and Will Mayo, an attorney who helped finalize the loan deal and Michael Dunn with Dunn and Dalton, the architects.

“If it wasn’t for them teaming up with us, we couldn’t do this project,” Harris said. “They’ve been instrumental in helping us.”

Following lunch, the congregation and guests met outside and different subgroups within the church, like the youth group, took turns using shovels to turn over dirt, officially breaking ground on the project. The church wanted the youth group to be involved in the ceremony due to its continuous involvement in the church’s outreach ministries, particularly missions trips, Parris said. The youth group has been involved in mission trips throughout the nation and the world. This past spring, members of the youth group gave us their spring breaks to minister to kids in the jungles of Ecuador, Parris said.

“Our youth pastor takes our kids to do missions projects and takes them globally and teaches them how to have fun while serving God,” Parrish said. “He’s taken kids to France and Bulgaria, and we had a youth group that gave up their spring break to go to the jungles of Ecuador and minister to kids in the jungle. The majority were high school students. We really believe our young people are our church of tomorrow, as well as our church of today. We wanted them to be a part of [the ceremony].”

Parrish said the expansion and welcome center projects were necessary to meet space demands for a growing congregation. On the day of the groundbreaking, the church welcomed record numbers in attendance since Parrish came to the church in 2012, he said.

“I came to the church in 2012,” Parrish said. “We had just seen some incredible growth — not only growth in programs and ministry but growth in people that wanted to be a part of that. I believe one of the reasons we’ve seen the growth is what we are doing is more than what’s happening on the inside of the church. It’s us going outside the church.

“The heart of the church is to reach people and give them hope and share the love of Christ, but all the while doing that from a position that takes the Bible literally and teaches it truthfully. I think because of that, we’re having people respond. So we’re having to provide the space for them when they come. The growth requires us to do more. We are here to serve the people of Beaufort County and the region and our world.”

Following the ceremony, the church held an outdoor concert featuring the Men of Faith, a local southern gospel men’s quartet from Winterville, Parrish said.