By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – The first phase of an ongoing renovation project at Liberty Baptist Church is complete, and areas under construction the last five months are open again.

After 15 weeks of work, the church held worship services in its newly renovated worship center on Nov. 8, and the chapel opened on Nov. 15, creating two locations for services at 9:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. on Sundays.

“The main aspect of the project was renovating the sanctuary, and then we did a lot of exterior offices and classrooms that were around the perimeter of the sanctuary,” LBC Minister of Education and Evangelism Leon Burdette said. “The first week, we did not have our chapel venue open, so everyone was in the worship center for the first reopening. Now, we are back to our regular schedule.”

The project, which started in July, was intended to bring more space and audio-visual technological upgrades to the worship center and adjacent hallways, classrooms and offices.

Additions to the worship center included new flooring, paint, lighting, a sound system, media screens and new seating.

Pews were replaced with about 430 padded lockable chairs, which accommodate more people and can be moved depending on the type of event is taking place.

“With the adding of chairs, it gives us flexibility on the floor where we can remove chairs and put in tables,” Burdette said. “With the new renovations, it allows us new flexibility we didn’t have in that space prior to this. It just gives us better utilization of the space.”

The church averages 850 people at its Sunday worship services, Burdette said in a previous interview.

The current main building with the worship center and classrooms was constructed in the late 1980s.Prior to that, churchgoers met in the chapel, which provides about 150 more seats and features live video feed of the sermon in the main sanctuary, along with live music.

Services were held in the fellowship hall as the sanctuary underwent renovation.

The media in the worship center – the screens and technological devices – were upgraded to better provide live feeds of worship services to the chapel and online.

Before construction started, Phase A was estimated to cost about $1 million, but final expenses have not been calculated yet, Burdette said.

Project plans call for the education building and fellowship hall to be renovated in the next few years, Burdette said.