Coca-Cola Donates Building to ‘Fireproof’ Church

The Coca-Cola Co. has donated its
60,000-square-foot former bottling plant in Albany, Ga., to Sherwood Baptist
Church, owner of Sherwood Pictures, the film-production company that produced
the successful movies Fireproof and Facing the Giants.

According to the Sherwood Baptist
Church Facebook page, the church plans to use the facility as a community
outreach center.

A post on Sherwood’s Facebook wall
reads:

“What an appropriate time to celebrate and give thanks! The Lord has
provided us with this wonderful facility and we are so grateful! We will now be
more equipped to go into the inner city and share His light and provide for
their needs, thanks to the Coca-Cola corporation’s generosity!”

The building was for sale, and the
company’s decision surprised real estate agent Woody Watson, who was handling
the listing of the property.

“Yes, I’m surprised at Coca-Cola’s
decision,” Watson said. “They had several offers on the property and we
actually had an acceptance. I thought the deal was done.”

The building, valued at $590,000,
had been on the market for the last two years.

Jim McBride, an associate pastor at
the church and former plant general manager for Coca-Cola, said the building
basically “fell into our laps.”

“The church was not pursuing this
donation, this all happened in the last 10 days,” McBride said last week. “Some
people from Coca-Cola Consolidated came through town recently and we stopped by
the building. They had a couple of offers on the building but asked me if I had
any suggestions.

“A few days later they called and
said that the building had served the community since 1940 and they wanted to
continue that service by donating the building to the church.”

The church says the building will enable them
“to go into the inner city and give back to the community,” local FOX
affiliate WFXL-TV reported. 
–source: Albany (Ga.)
Herald