Excitement builds as River Hills Community Church launches $1.8M capital campaign

River Hills Community Church is building excitement for growth.

A walk through of the building and grounds Nov. 14 by church members was held to launch the three-year, $1.8 million capital campaign called The Excitement is Building.

“We are an inclusive church for the community,” said Gayle Montgomery, senior pastor since 2013, during the Commitment Sunday event. “Improvements we make here benefit the entire area.”

The church is an interdenominational church whose members represent 27 denominations. The project includes aesthetic and operational improvements for the 1970s-era campus. Already $652,000 is pledged, more than one-third of the goal.

“We’ve grown but the church shows its age,” said Monique Boekhout, a longtime church member. “We will be brighter and have more to offer. We have big plans for next year.”

The church hired Charlotte-based Hewett Consulting LLC, which works with nonprofit and faith-based organizations across the nation, to conduct a feasibility study in the spring and lead them through the process. More than 100 congregants have served in leadership roles for the campaign led by Carr and Lane Bennett and Al and Grace Waddell, according to campaign literature.

“What a unifying experience this has been for our church family,” Montgomery said, adding consultant John Hewett also is a pastor. “We have been prayerful throughout this effort.”

Founded in 1975, River Hills Community Church has undergone many updates and expansions. More than a decade ago, a Family Life Center was erected across the street from its campus fronting Charlotte Highway at Hamilton’s Ferry Road. The church celebrated its 40th anniversary in October.

But it is showing its years, from faded siding to aging technology.

“Our windows mostly survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989,” said Carol Lassiter, a church member who served as a guide for the Nov. 14 prayer walk. “But seals were broken and now the windows fog.”

She said crumbling parking lots, a patched church organ, needed playground equipment and missions development also will be addressed.

Major improvements will be made to the church’s main entrance for safety and accessibility needs, including a 1,300-square-foot addition to the front gathering space, a covered entrance for pickups and drop-offs and an elevator between the church’s main floor and the second story classrooms.

Other projects include adding a fire sprinkler system and firewall in the sanctuary, updated equipment and other repairs.

It’s all part of the church’s vision to begin a third worship time in 2016 between the 8:30 and 10 a.m. services. The new service will appeal to younger worshipers who might like a different structure, Montgomery said.

The work will benefit the community, too, including the Boy Scouts, which use the church facilities regularly, as well as the church’s outreach efforts.

“We’re about reaching out as the hands and feet of Christ,” Montgomery said. “It’s all God’s money.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Excitement builds as River Hills Community Church launches $1.8M capital campaign."