After years of saving and planning, Greater Mount Sinai Baptist Church recently opened a new 30,000-square-foot enrichment center.

Members got their first peek inside the $5.6 million addition earlier this month.

Pastor George Cook Jr. (photo) said the center is the product of a 17-year planning and saving period that began soon after the west Charlotte church completed its fellowship hall in 1993. He said the center would house the congregation’s various ministries and community activities.

“We have had in operation as many as 50 ministries,” he told Qcitymetro.com. “What we wanted to do was build the enrichment center so that we could further make our ministries more effective. We want to not only reach out into the community, but there are in-house members and people who need to be strengthened.”

The largest part of the enrichment center, and the part that Cook predicts will most be used, is a gymnasium, complete with six basketball goals and an upstairs walking track. The center also has space for an exercise room, with men’s and women’s showers on each side.

For 35 years, Cook said, the church has had youth basketball teams that played in various school gymnasiums. The congregation felt it was time to “bring them home,” where they also could be better mentored, he said.

Cook said the gym also can be rented out for banquets, wedding receptions, and other large events.

Also in the center is a computer lab, in which Cook said the church will begin offering computer courses; a small serving area with food warmers and refrigerators; a room specifically for seniors to conduct monthly programs; a choir room; a board room; two rooms for younger children, ample classroom space and room for afterschool facilities. (photos below)

Cook said the church will offer rental rates for companies or organizations that need workshop space.

Although a mortgage was required, Cook said the congregation committed to paying as much as possible upfront. During the first three months of each year, Cook taught the biblical concept of tithing, starting in Genesis and working his way to the New Testament. After he completed the series, he would not speak on the subject again until September, when he would begin to prepare the congregation for the upcoming year.

“We became a tithing church,” he said. “The Lord blessed us and there was a lot of surplus in being a tithing church.”

Cook said the church also suspended fundraising and payment of certain dues during that period.

“If we’re tithing, we’re tithing,” he said.
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Michael Gentry covers the Charlotte-area faith community. Email churches@qcitymetro.com to report newsworthy events that are occurring within your congregation.

This lounge area leads from the older building into the new enrichment center. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)

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Church officials say they will offer computer courses in this new computer lab. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)
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An outside view of the new enrichment center, foreground. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)

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This reception area will greet visitors arriving at the new enrichment center. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)
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A boardroom inside the new enrichment center. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)
 

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