By Mike Hazlip—
After meeting at 7600 Old Auburn Rd. for years, Pioneer Baptist Church has moved to a new facility in Carmichael, leaving the century-old building available.
A request for comment to Pastor Kyle Conley on Monday was not responded to by press time Friday afternoon, but in a previous interview with The Sentinel, Conley said there were no definite plans for the building. In June, he indicated that the church board was “not property managers,” leaving open the possibility they could opt to sell the property. The pastor said he knew of two other congregations that might be interested in the building.
Although the church has transferred its Sunday services to its new location in Carmichael, the congregation was still using the Old Auburn Road site last week to host Vacation Bible School activities.
Conley said previously he remains interested in developing land the church owns across from Rusch Park at 7904 Auburn Blvd., but said there are no definite plans for the vacant lot either.
“Hopefully, within the next few years, building costs will normalize and our congregation will be able to do something really special there,” Conley told The Sentinel previously. “I look forward to working with the City on that as well.”
As previously reported, the Pioneer Baptist made a decision to move to an existing building at 4252 Garfield Ave., due to the growing needs of his congregation. The church had initially planned to build a larger campus at the Rusch Park site, but halted those plans earlier this year when construction costs nearly doubled.
On Sundays and other days where church functions were held, cars could often be seen lined up along Old Auburn Road more than 100 feet away from the church.