The Church of Eleven22 Inc. expects to open in Mandarin — its third Jacksonville location — in January on property it bought along Losco Road.
That expansion means another church also will make a move.
Access Church, which has been leasing the site, wants to buy land to build a campus in northern St. Johns County, the churches said in a joint news release Friday.
In the meantime, Access Church will use The Church of Eleven22’s Baymeadows location for Sunday evening services starting in October and will open a storefront this fall along County Road 210 for weekday and weekend events for teens and young families.
“The conversations behind the scenes are exactly how you would hope two churches would work something like this out,” said Access Church Lead Pastor Rich Barrett in a news release.
Its accesschurch.com/relocation website says the last Sunday service at the Losco Road property probably will be in late October. Barrett says on the site his team hopes to acquire land in St. Johns County “as quickly as possible” to custom-build a facility.
Barrett said in an email the church does not have land under contract and it should know more in a few weeks about the budget to develop the new location.
Access Church is affiliated with Andy Stanley’s North Point Community Church in Atlanta and has been leasing the Losco Road facility since January 2012.
Duval County Clerk of Court records show The Church of Eleven22 Inc. bought the 11-acre property at 4911 Losco Road from Lutheran Church Extension Fund-Missouri Synod, based in St. Louis.
It paid $3.4 million Aug. 3 and received a $2.89 million mortgage Tuesday from Compass Bank.
Property records show the Losco Road property comprises an almost 21,200-square-foot, one-story church developed in 2004 and a 2,143-square-foot converted residence built in 1979.
“The Church of Eleven22 is committed to launching new locations where its families live so they can invite their neighbors to church with them,” it said in the news release.
The church serves about 7,000 people during eight weekly services and reaches more people through its missions along with work with churches it is helping to plant in Africa and South America.
The Church of Eleven22 opened its main campus at 14286 Beach Blvd. and in January expanded into Baymeadows at 8133 Point Meadows Drive, the location offered to Access Church for its temporary Sunday evening use.
Its website, coe22.com, says The Church of Eleven22 plans to launch its third and fourth locations next year, but does not identify them.
The Church of Eleven22 began in 2008 as a single service at Beach United Methodist Church in Jacksonville Beach. Beach United launched The Church of Eleven22 as a non-denominational church.
Eleven22 stands for Mark 11:22 in the New Testament book of the Bible.
The church said it was established in 2012. It opened its main campus and worship center in September 2012 at 14286 Beach Blvd., in a former Walmart.
It leases about 65,000 square feet in that center for its worship center and another 23,400 square feet for its Hope’s Closet thrift store and other uses, according to site plans with landlord Sleiman Enterprises.
A year ago, the church bought the closed Sneakers Sports Grille along Point Meadows Drive. It renovated the 19,105-square-foot building into a worship center, classrooms, a nursery, a community room, office space and other uses.
The Rev. Joby Martin is lead pastor.
He said in the release it is “an exciting time for both churches” and it has been a privilege to work with Barrett and his Access Church team.
The Access Church website says it meets at the Losco Road property at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sunday. It will hold services at the Point Meadows location at 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Barrett said the two churches’ teams “are developing a deep appreciation for one another.”
“While we employ different strategies, our heartbeat is the same and we have more in common that we have differences,” Barrett said.
Founded in 2007, Access Church said its vision is to create a church “that unchurched people love to attend.”
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