Bryan Newman
Members of Risen Savior Lutheran Church met for a luncheon and congregational meeting on Sunday, July 8, to discuss and ratify the next step for the expansion of its Alma School Road campus. The new building will feature an additional 725-seat Worship Center and multi-purpose building, a state-of-the-art kitchen and outside patio with a front yard area that will support community activities such as the Novemberfest, the school’s Fall Festival, the Church Picnic and more.
After presenting architectural renderings of the campus expansion project to the congregation at focus meetings last spring, the Steering Committee began rolling out the three-year Capital Stewardship Campaign, Our Next Step… in Engaging All Generations, to potential donors in June. At the July 8 meeting, the Steering Committee revealed that the first 73 pledges amounted to $2,709,800!
Between now and December, the Capital Stewardship Campaign will be presented through individual visits to answer any questions and to invite their participation in this historic event. At the end of this year, the congregation will meet again for a campaign update and for a second vote that will authorize commencement of construction to begin early in 2019. If ratified, it is anticipated that construction will be completed in 2020.
Previous expansion programs of the Alma School Road campus have been instrumental in Risen Savior’s ability to achieve its mission of engaging all generations. Prior projects have included the addition of ground-floor classrooms in 2003, the construction of second-floor classrooms and meeting rooms in 2007, the purchase of the Northern Trust Bank Building (now the church administrative offices) in 2013, concurrent with the purchase of the adjoining vacant lot and the creation of architectural renderings of the proposed new Worship Center and multi-purpose building in 2017.
There is no doubt that God has richly blessed all of our campus expansion programs. The last six years, we have offered four worship services on Sundays, two traditional and two contemporary, plus additional services on Easter and Christmas. It is not unusual for our weekly attendance to surpass 1,100 worshipers from October through May. In addition, 160 children attend the Risen Savior Kindergarten and Preschool facility throughout the week. With all of the continued growth in Chandler, we hope to connect even more people to God.