Springfield Baptist Church head Pastor Eric Lee confirmed that the 132-year-old church has "entered into an agreement" with the mortgage holder Evangelical Christian Credit Union to purchase the former Church in the Now property on Iris Drive.

Lee made the announcement to the congregation Sunday.

According to SBC Director of Business Administration Kendra Boone, the announcement was met with much excitement.

"It’s going to be a blessing all the way around. This is just God’s hand in our favor," she said. Currently, parking for the multiple Sunday services stretches all the way down Old Salem Road. "This will definitely help us in accommodating the people who have come."

The church will be occupying the building April 1 with the first Sunday service on Easter Sunday, April 8, for Resurrection Sunday services at 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. The current facility at 3001 Old Salem Road, Conyers, which was purchased in 2005 for $3.5 million, will be put onto the market.

The 43-acre former Church in the Now property, which includes the main sanctuary and Kids in the Now sanctuary, was initially posted in 2011 at a sale price of $18.8 million but had no bidders then.

Springfield Baptist raised about $2.3 million in pledges during it's "G.L.O.R.Y" capital campaign over the last several years. The church also purchased 32 acres in 2010, separate from the capital campaign, next to Interstate 20 along the Rockdale-Newton border

Springfield Baptist, which started out in western Newton County on the banks of the Yellow River by former slaves, has grown to over 4,500 members, according Boone.

Former megachurch Church in the Now went into foreclosure March 2011. Attendance dropped after Bishop Jim Swilley came out to the congregation about being gay in 2011. Church in the Now currently holds services in the side Kids in the Now sanctuary and a ministry in Atlanta.

The GRTA stop will reportedly be able to continue operating in the parking lot.