City of Hope
More Stuff About KPC's Dream For The Future
The Future Is Now
In December of 2007, KPC voted ‘yes’ to The City of Hope project.
Afterward, we as a congregation rolled up our sleeves to begin the design process, holding town hall meetings, volunteer leadership meetings, and a leadership summit. Each life group was invited to discuss the project and provide feedback, and many offered written suggestions through the Hope Chest and through kpc.org.
Working with architect Mike Barnes, we have compiled your ideas to design our future of ministry. The dream that God has placed in our hearts was unveiled at KPC on October 19, 2008.
You can also see the Powerpoint file of the architectual concepts presented on that day. The future starts now!
Volunteer
Would you like to help?
Contact Nelene Gibbs and let her know how best to connect with you.
How To Give
If you want to write a check while at KPC there are envelopes available in the back of the pews.
Of course, you can always mail your check to KPC at the following address:
Kempsville Presbyterian Church
805 Kempsville Rd., Virginia Beach, VA 23464
(Indicate in the memo that your gift is designated for the Capital Campaign)
Or check out our information concerning on-line giving.
Testimonials
Read the stories and watch videos of testimonies to see how God is working in the lives of those investing in the City of Hope
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| Articles | ||||||
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Becoming A Pilgrim People Aticle • PDF |
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| A Hope And A Future Audio Series | ||||||
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Something Is About To Happen (Again) Part 1 • MP3 |
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| We Are Looking For New Land Part 2 • MP3 |
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| KPC Goal Part 3 • MP3 |
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| We Are Full Part 4 • MP3 |
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| Will This Be The Complete City Of Hope Part 5 • MP3 |
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| Becoming Stagnant Part 6 • MP3 |
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| Having Questions Part 7 • MP3 |
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| Cathedral Vision Part 8 • MP3 |
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| Ministry Village Part 9 • MP3 |
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| Think Of Your Ministry Part 10 • MP3 |
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2007 & Beyond Nate Atwood • February 4, 2007 |
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The City of Hope - A Brief History of KPC
Throughout her history, Kempsville Presbyterian Church has seen God do great things. KPC was birthed in January 1961 by three couples with a heart for ministry and a vision to reach others with the message of Jesus Christ. For many years, KPC faithfully ministered on Kempsville Road in the location of the current Rock Church facility.
Desiring to reach still more people for Christ and to increase the influence of Christ’s kingdom, the congregation traded our land with Rock Church and moved to our current location in November 1980. A new sanctuary was built, and the congregation significantly increased. During the early 1990s, the original facility was expanded by adding our current Celebration, Pre-School, and Youth/Adult wings.
From the mid-1980s until now, the congregation of KPC has been used by God to accomplish much for the Kingdom. God, through His Holy Spirit, gave us a vision to become “a Fountainhead Church” wherein ministry was released into countless other settings. From being a pacesetter in the renewal movement of the 1980s, to missions outreach during the last two decades, to helping anchor the newly formed Evangelical Presbyterian Church, KPC has a rich history of reaching beyond her limits to passionately serve God’s purposes.
The vibrancy of KPC notwithstanding, after growing to fill our new facility during the 1980s, worship attendance has largely remained static. For 20 years, weekend attendance has fluctuated between 1100 and 1400, causing the pastors and elders to review our current facility in light of future growth. We asked the question whether or not our building had reached its capacity and whether or not it was time to consider expansion.
The question was not a new one. In a 1989 study done by CBN, experts concluded, “KPC’s sanctuary is adequate to handle the present attendance level in its two services. However, the building offers no future growth potential . . . nor is their parking adequate for future growth.”
In 2005, in order to gain still another opinion on this vital question, the Administration Committee of Session asked noted church architect Mike Barnes to comprehensively review our current facilities in light of future growth. He concluded that we had largely maxed out our current structure, and future growth would require building. The time had come to plan for the future.
As a first step, the Session once again hired The Barnes Group, Ltd. to design a building plan for our current location. Five months later, the Barnes Group returned with a plan for a sanctuary seating from 1200 to 1400, a new banquet hall facility, and increased body life space. As attractive as the plan was, five significant problems emerged:
►Parking. Building out the current property would still leave us 500-700 parking spaces short. Looking to the adjoining shopping center for parking was unrealistic in our situation given the amount of Sunday business the center does, the layout of their buildings, and most especially their lack of interest in selling.
►Construction Costs. Specialized building techniques would need to be used given our need to preserve land for what parking we could provide, making construction on our site uniquely expensive.
►Demolition. Demolition and construction would have to take place concurrently raising the question of how ministry could continue in a facility that is already cramped.
►Over-investment. At a projected building cost of 10-13 million dollars, it became apparent that our current property would become overbuilt. Should KPC choose to sell and move in the future, it would be highly unlikely that we would be able to recover our additional investment in our current site.
►Incremental Increase. While reaching any number of additional people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ matters intensely, a maximized KPC on our current 9 acres would offer a growth potential of only 20-40% (and that assumes we could solve the parking problems described above). In comparing this proposal with other plans that offered growth potential of 300% or more, stewardship demanded that we consider an entirely new approach to the future of KPC.
In response to the above, the pastors and elders, along with the senior staff, committed to several months of fasting and prayer through the spring and summer of 2006 in order to seek God’s mind. After several months of prayer and reflection, in August 2006 the pastors and elders voted to “in principle purchase land in order to facilitate the future expansion of KPC’s ministry.”
For many churches, maxing out their current facilities wouldn’t lead to the kind of study, prayer, and decision making we have gone through. What drives us to ask and answer these questions and consider alternatives for future growth? The answer is as basic as the Gospel itself. We are convinced that God wills to reach still more people for Christ and that we need to make provision to do so. In other words, souls are at stake. It is about the mission of God.
What Do We Envision?
KPC is in a unique position. First of all, we have a strong community of roughly 2,500 children, youth, and adults who are committed to Christ and committed to the church. Secondly, we have no debt. Thirdly, we have a strong history of service, prayer, faith, vision, and giving. This—combined with a limitless God—has stirred our souls to reach for much.
Our vision is to buy 60 or more acres of land to build an entirely new ministry center. We call it “The City of Hope.” City of Hope will house a new, larger KPC with a congregation roughly three times our current size. We believe in Oaktree Academy and envision it moving from 230 students to 1000 students.
Beyond this, our heart is to build a state-of-the-art recreation center allowing us to attract and minister to youth, young adults, singles, and families. We also envision a ministry village attracting various ministries which have been birthed out of KPC over the years and which would like to return “home” to do ministry in a shared setting.
Imagine the synergy of leaders championing various causes such as missions, prayer, media, worship and arts, ministry to the poor, counseling, leadership development, youth missions, public policy, pro-life, and families working and creating just a few footsteps from one another. Still further, we envision playing fields and a park-like setting for Oaktree Academy and the families of our community.
Should the Lord allow us to purchase a still larger tract of land (80+ acres), we envision a retirement village contiguous with the church property, giving us a truly intergenerational ministry setting. We are excited at the idea of the members of KPC, the leaders and volunteers of a ministry village, the children and teachers of Oaktree, the families reached through a recreation center, and seniors in our retirement village all passionately pursuing Jesus Christ with one another. Who knows what God might bring out of that mix of people?
How Do We Get There?
Does it sound like a big vision?
Of course. When has God ever done anything small? Is it unrealistic? The combination of our current property value, what we project raising in our capital campaign, and the additional “economic engine” of Oaktree Academy makes this dream more attainable than you might think.
Our three-year capital goal, beginning in Fall 2007, will be to raise 6 million dollars. We have already professionally assessed that goal and feel it is attainable by God’s grace. This, combined with the value of our current property plus additional giving through Oaktree, puts somewhere between 15-20 million dollars within reach. God can do much with assets like that.
We believe it is time to gather our resources and reinvest them as our “talent” in the Kingdom to see Jesus Christ’s work multiplied. In fact, we believe we are responsible to do so. If we can reach more, aren’t we commanded by the Lord to do just that?
It Comes Down To People
What God is doing in our midst is wonderful. Recently, our Senior Pastor Nate Atwood, along with another KPC parent, watched as a large group of children played together. The children knew and loved each other and, more importantly, knew and loved the Lord. Parents and grandparents gathered and watched the children with smiles on their faces; young adults and older adults sat outside together, enjoying one another. It was a scene of remarkable community health based upon the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Nate commented to the parent at his side, “This is so amazing—we must give this away to others.” The other parent smiled and said, “You’re right about that. It’s time to grow again.”
More than anything, this is our vision. The grace, friendships, truth, and opportunities to grow as people that so many of us have experienced at KPC need to be given away. Others deeply need what we regularly experience and, of still greater urgency, eternity itself is at stake.
Almost 30 years ago KPC had a vision. As a smaller church, the people took a risk, exchanged their property for a larger piece of land, and built a new church. A congregation of a few hundred more than tripled. Many of us who are now at KPC were reached for Christ during that period of faith and growth, and our lives are infinitely richer. In fact, the world has been touched as an expanded KPC had more resources at her disposal.
As God provides, we have the chance to do the same thing again. Thousands more in our community can be reached for Christ and our world impacted still more by the ever expanding ministries of a growing KPC. Isn’t that at the heart of what it is to be a Fountainhead Church?
After all, a Fountainhead Church is a place where “the rivers of God’s Spirit begin to flow . . . a place of life where God is doing great things . . . a place where there is a spirit of praise, prayer, spiritual warfare, release, and risk . . . a place where the people themselves become rivers as they go, send, give, and pray . . . a place rising up to stand against the darkness . . . “
Will you join us in a journey? Could you embrace a vision for the future grounded in a heart for others and the impact of Christ upon them? It is time, once again, for the people of KPC to become a “pilgrim people,” journeying towards a wider and still more effective place of ministry.
Surely God wills for us to accomplish even more in the future than we have in the past. After all, we have such a strong foundation to build upon and—because of Jesus Christ—every reason to work and invest in hope.
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2007 Rewind Video • WMV |
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2006 Rewind Video • WMV |
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