Fort Myers Beach church selling two acres of land

The Beach Baptist Church on Fort Myers Beach will soon be just a little farther away from the beach.

“You have to think outside the box,” said Pastor Shawn Critser. “You have to come up with alternative income streams to keep doing your mission and stay afloat.”

Pastor Critser’s congregation voted unanimously on Sunday to sell the front two acres of the church’s property for $4 million to developer S.J. Collins.

S.J. Collins will turn the two acres into 12 residential lots while building the new church on the remaining 1.5 acres the church still owns.

“The relationship that is offered with these guys is the church mindfulness, the Kingdom mindfulness, to get back to work,” Critser said.

This isn’t the first time the church and S.J. Collins have tried to strike a deal.

They had previously discussed an eight-story condo building on the property.

“The town really spoke up and was like, ‘No, we don’t want that,’ said Critser. “Our developer said, ‘Okay, let’s try something else.'”

The church will be moving out of their current place of worship, a tent, into a temporary triple-wide trailer in a month.

“It’s absolutely the path that we believe God put us on,” Critser said. “It makes the road a little bit easier.”

The new church will cost about $4 million.

The church will also get 10% of the proceeds when the 12 residential lots are sold.

The contract between Beach Baptist Church and S.J. Collins will be signed on Wednesday.

The church’s groundbreaking is six to eight months away, and it will be fully opened in 18 to 24 months.

WINK News has reached out to the Town of Fort Myers Beach to see if they approve of the sale.

We have not heard back yet.