We’re excited to share that our Eastside Campus is officially in contract for a new permanent location! This potential new home will give us more space to gather, grow, and continue bringing Life in Christ to our Eastside community. We’re grateful for God’s provision and can’t wait to see what’s ahead. Watch the video for more details.

1. How will funds given for the Eastside Down Payment/Move-In be used? Funds given for this purpose will be used for the required down payment, related closing costs, and any initial expenses to get the building ready to hold Sunday services.

2. Why are we buying a house? We are buying a building, that happens to be a house. When we approached our realtor, we gave her a list of “wants” and “needs”, agreeing that finding an affordable building with all our wants would be unlikely.  When we heard back from her, within only a few days, that she had found this property that checked the majority of our boxes, we were astounded.  Even though it was built as a single-family home, the layout fits the needs of ChangePoint Eastside extraordinarily, dare we say divinely, well.
The garage is where we plan to hold our services.  It was designed as a six-car garage with over 1400 sq ft of space, which we estimate can hold 100-110 seats comfortably. The “living room” has ample space for a commons/welcome area and the adjacent open kitchen is perfect for a coffee bar. The downstairs bedrooms will fit our Children’s Ministries nicely, and the bonus room above the garage is perfect for students or overflow.
There is a heated parking area outside the garage that is ideal for expanding our meeting space. We estimate that we could almost double the current service space, allowing us the capacity for around 200 people per service. We’re still looking at cost options as this is not the most pressing need. Our first step will be to add a second service to address growth. The outside grounds were already designed with a substantial parking pad, but creating additional long-term parking will be our biggest initial investment.
That being said, with the equipment we still have from our days in Bartlett, plus some additional items needed for the new space, we could conceivably hold services here within a month or two.  
The fact that this is a residential property has allowed us to get it under contract at a fraction of the price a comparable commercial property would cost. In fact, the closest potential commercial property was over twice this asking price and would still require significant investment and renovation before we could consider using it. This building is practically move-in ready and substantially less expensive.

3. How is this an improvement over where we are now? The move to Scenic Park Bible Church, from Bartlett High School, was a game changer for Eastside. However, as beneficial as it’s been, there are very real constraints to sharing a space. Most pressing is our inability to launch a practical second service. We meet at 9:00am, they meet at 11:00am, and any second service of ours would have to either be very early, much later, or on a different night; none of which are appealing options.
There is some relational friction that goes with using someone else’s space, and there are the occasional scheduling conflicts where we have to adjust or cancel events in deference to our hosts. Having a place of our own, though an increase in responsibility, will also increase our freedom, flexibility, and ability to utilize the building in ways we feel can benefit the neighborhood and community, both on Sunday and throughout the week.
 

4. Isn’t Foundations supposed to handle this kind of need? Yes, it is, but Foundations has a three-year horizon. If this were at the end of the campaign, based on the amounts pledged by the Eastside Campus, we would be in a very different position financially and able to move independently. Unfortunately, we are at the beginning and haven’t built that reserve yet. And, because this is being handled as a residential sale, the timeline to come up with the necessary funds is accelerated even more.
Eastside will contribute to the max extent possible for us, but we likely cannot meet the financial need on our own, at this time.  So, we are asking for help from the other Campuses to make this happen.  As one church, we should be willing and able to move together on opportunities such as this.  Of course, there is no obligation to participate, only opportunity and an ask.
This is a special ask to the other Campuses because Foundations donations pledged and/or given at those Campuses were given with the intent of being used at their respective Campus. It would not be appropriate to use funds given specifically for Facilities needs at other Campuses to meet the Facility needs of the Eastside Campus.

A typical worship service lasts for 75 minutes.

We don't just meet on Sundays. We also meet both online and in-person in Life Groups across our community to:
Enjoy God Together • Be Transformed Together • Demonstrate God's Heart Together