To a passerby, they appear to be random people walking by a construction site.

But come back in a few minutes, and the same people will pass by again, clutching the same yellow piece of paper and talking seemingly to no one.

Telegram photo / Joel Hodges (ENLARGE) The Rev. Larry Curtis, left, and the Rev. Bill Grisham go over plans for First Baptist Church's family ministry center.   RISE OF CENTER Slide show: Photos show the work being done to build First Baptist Church's family ministry center.

These people can be seen several times a day, and they're neither crazy nor trying to shed a few pounds, said the Rev. Larry Curtis, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Rocky Mount. This walk is about prayer.

They are church members praying for the construction workers busy nearby, the church members and its programs. But most of all, they are praying that the church will follow God's will for the new family ministry center it is building, Curtis said.

"We have many teams prayer walking around the premises and in the neighborhoods, just asking the Lord to show us what the needs are in this community and how we can respond. In other words, we don't want to keep this building just for ourselves," Curtis said.

The $6 million building, which began construction in April, primarily will be used as a ministry, education and recreation center for church members and people in the community, said the Rev. Bill Grisham, senior pastor. Construction is supposed to be finished in early 2009 on the 58,000 square-foot building.

The three-story building will have a large gym and several classrooms, Grisham said. Plans for its use aren't concrete, but possibilities include having on-campus space for the children's sports ministries, partnering on programs with other local churches, starting an after-school program for latchkey children and becoming a staging center for disaster relief efforts. These would be in addition to existing Bible studies and classes.

"Some of it we know and some of it we don't. The whole thing is a journey," Grisham said.

It is a journey that has been a long time coming, said Charles Mullen, chairman of the building committee. Several years ago, church leaders tried to determine what areas God wanted them to focus on to affect the community and its own members, and what was holding the church back from those tasks. Again and again, lack of space came up as a hindrance.

"If we are a downtown church, then the Bible tells us that we are to spread the gospel in all parts of the world and starting right where you are. ... That is what we have been doing, but we will do it more effectively with this facility," Mullen said.

The gym will have one of the biggest immediate effects, said Steve Warren, a member. Lack of space has meant the church's children and youth programs often have to meet at the Kate & Billy Harrison Family YMCA. The new building will be a place for those programs and others designed to include other children from the community.

"Being on campus, the parents and children can feel that they can come in a safe place without traveling and having to split up the family to several locations," Warren said.

Since the gym has locker rooms, the space would also be perfect to serve as a base camp if a disaster such as a hurricane hit the coast, Curtis said.

"Disaster recovery is a big focus of our state convention, and we are known across the country for out response to areas that are hit by hurricanes. ... A staging (area) has to have a place where people can sleep, shower, be fed, and this building would accommodate that," Curtis said.

The church is almost halfway through a three-year fundraising campaign for the building, but it will take several more years after that to pay it off, said Stephen Barnes, co-chairman of the fundraising campaign and church treasurer. The church has $2.3 million in pledges and funds already raised.

First Baptist has been in the same location since it was started in 1880, and its members want to continue to be a presence downtown, Grisham said. That means understanding and meeting the needs of the community around the church.

"God has blessed us with resources and we want to use them not selfishly but in the best way possible. I think the general tenet of the church is building the kingdom, not simply building this church," Grisham said.