Sunday will be a big day in Gardendale.

After many years of preparation, the new Gardendale First Baptist Church will open its doors for worship.

“It’s a bittersweet moment,” said GFBC pastor Kevin Hamm. “Sunday was our last Sunday here. We are feeling nostalgic.”

However, Hamm said he is excited to be getting into the new, larger and state-of-the-art facility.

The new worship center at 314 Mountain Crest Pkwy., called the north campus, is an almost $25 million project. It will seat 2,504 people in the sanctuary, plus 200 in the choir and 35 in the orchestra.

The existing building at 940 Main St., the south campus, will accommodate about 1,000 people, according to De Allen, executive pastor of administration for the church.

While the worship center is larger, the overall facility is smaller. The new church is about 100,000 square feet, while the one on Main Street is more than 200,000 square feet.

However, the new church construction is only the first phase, according to Hamm.

Hamm said church leaders plan to sell the facility on Main Street someday, but “there’s really no time frame projection.” At that time, the north campus will be expanded to include additional education and administration space.

For now, all of the education space and administration offices, including Hamm’s office, will remain at the south campus site. The music and media ministries have relocated to the new facility, because their equipment is there. Also relocating is the church bookstore.

Adults and senior adults ministry will take place on the north campus, according to Mark Harrison, GFBC executive pastor of ministries.

So will student ministry, which is for children in grades six through 12. Those students will worship together during the 9:15 a.m. service and then attend Bible fellowship class, or Sunday school, at 11 a.m.

Meanwhile, ministry for children through fifth grade will take place on the south campus. Parents will have to drop off their children at the south campus and then drive back to the north campus for Bible study and worship.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do at this point in our relocation process,” Harrison said.

The new church building has two levels, with the worship center upstairs. On the lower level are a celebration room, which will accommodate 300 people for conferences or other events; 14 classrooms; a choir practice room and other rooms.

The facility also includes a video control room with 12 work stations, a sound control room and editing suites to produce the church’s worship service that airs on ABC. Sixteen people work the media system during a typical Sunday morning worship service, according to Mark Ramsey, who manages that aspect of the church.

Since the new church has a larger worship center, there will be two worship services instead of three, at 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m.

There will be three rounds of Sunday school, at 8 a.m., 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Allen said the first two Sundays will be a “learning experience” for everyone, especially involving traffic. He said the church has hired extra uniformed police officers to direct traffic, and will hire more if necessary.

The church will video the two traffic entrances on the first two Sundays so administrators can learn to best accommodate members and visitors. There are two entrances to the church. The south entrance is on Mountain Crest Parkway off of Mt. Olive Road (which goes past the Upward ball fields). To take the north entrance, turn from Mt. Olive Road onto Harrison Drive and then turn left onto Brewer Street, which ends in the church parking lot.

While Hamm is excited about the new facility, he said it is just a building.

“A building is just a tool to continue doing for us what God has called us to do: Reach lost people for Jesus,” Hamm said. “We’re just one of many, many good churches in the community. We want to complement the community … we’re just one of many.”

GFBC’s history reaches back to 1876. Hamm said this move is the church’s fourth.

Allen said the church began purchasing land in 2001, buying an initial 95 acres and accumulating a total of 145 acres.

The first official event at the new campus will be a “Raise the Prayer” event Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.