FAQs

The ALL IN vision has always been about reaching people for Jesus. Our mission, vision and values remain unchanged but our methods and approaches must adapt to an ever-changing world. Our leadership circles (elders, trustees, staff) prayed intentionally for God’s clear direction last year, beginning back in February when we met daily to read through the book of Acts and pray. The building project (800 seat auditorium, classrooms, parking) was a big part of the original ALL IN plan, in addition to a second campus and fueling local/global missions. The construction bids were received last summer and project costs had skyrocketed. The increased costs meant taking on a $2M-$3M higher mortgage than originally anticipated. These costs would be a five-fold increase in our mortgage and this debt would hamstring ministry. The decision about moving forward and taking on more debt than anticipated was also during the height of the delta variant surge and the continued economic uncertainty. In addition, in-person gathering behaviors have been significantly impacted by COVID and the long-term impact is uncertain. Given all this, our leadership circles decided that constructing an 800 seat auditorium isn’t the optimal way to move forward and made the decision to not pursue the building project as originally planned.

The two year ALL IN goal was to raise all the funds we would need for our two year annual budget and the originally planned building expansion. That goal was $11.5M- 99% of the goal was raised! As planned, over $6M fueled ministry both locally and globally over the past two years which has had a huge impact- 100+ faith professions, 50+ baptisms and thousands receiving food, shelter and clothing to address the impact of COVID. In addition, we constructed 60 new parking spots on campus and installed the outdoor venue. The remaining ~$4M has been earmarked and will be used for the new ALL IN plan and will be spread across the three priority areas: 1) attract the community to campus, 2) bring the Church to the community, 3) invest in the existing facility.

Late last summer, we hired a consultant who was working with other churches across the country to adapt to the impact of COVID. We launched the ALL IN planning team (a team of 10) which includes representation from Elders, Trustees and Staff. This team has met for the past year to discuss our strategic priorities, state of our ministries, trends in our local communities and current space needs. The team has developed a plan that will address three areas: 1) attract the community to campus, 2) bring the Church to the community, 3) invest in the existing facility.

The plan is divided into two phases. Phase one are items we’re actively addressing in the nearer term. This includes: 1) Interior building project: Converting the existing office area to three new classrooms (adult connections room; two Children’s Ministry classrooms including new nursery); redesigned hallway; transforming rooms 4/5 into multi-purpose, youth friendly space 2) AVL (audio/video/lighting): Replacing the 10+ year old systems in the auditorium; enhancing the experience in the gym as a critical worship service viewing venue 3) Second campus launch: Plan and prepare for a launch sometime in 2024 Phase two is centered around developing our Mt. Airy campus and this will be a multi-year process. We’re currently in the early stages with an architect in crafting site plans. More details will be shared as plans are solidified.

Our original plan which was crafted in 2016 centered around doubling the size of our auditorium, a larger lobby and converting our existing auditorium into classrooms for next gen and adult discipleship. This was a somewhat one-size fits all approach that was weekend service centric and didn’t provide a whole lot of flexible, multi purpose space. As we’ve shared in the past, due to rising costs, this plan was going to require us to take on a much larger mortgage than anticipated, an almost 5x increase in our mortgage, during the uncertainty of COVID. Our new plan addresses what we were hoping to address in the original plan, just in a different way in response to our new context. It will develop flexible spaces that allows us to gather and connect while engaging with the weekend service. Creating smaller worship communities. It will explore how we can use our campus to meet the needs of the local community. This is a new element of the plan which we’re really excited about. The plan will also maximize indoor/outdoor space and will continue to provide space to reach the next generation. Thankfully, much of the new plan, especially phase one, will be accomplished without needing mortgage debt.

A/V/L (audio, video, lighting) is essential to accomplishing all three ALL IN objectives: 1) drawing the community to campus, 2) bringing the Church to the community, 3) investing in the existing facility. We have been partnering with a tech consultant on a plan to optimize DRCC’s AVL for the long-term as we continue to have viewing venues on campus, online church is here to stay and to enable a second campus. Our church building is now ten years old and much of our equipment is 10+ years old and beginning to show signs of aging. There are multiple reasons why investing in AVL is critical: · DRCC worship services will continue to be watched on screens as we pursue a viewing venue approach on campus (Overflow, lawn, etc.), online church and a second campus. Reliability and quality are critical to engagement. Investing in AVL to deliver our worship services will likely keep us from incurring the costs of building a new auditorium. · The majority of new guests watch DRCC online multiple times before visiting in-person, it’s the new front door and needs to continue to be a quality experience. · The prior building project was going to require a $1M+ investment in AVL- this was an expense we were going to need to incur regardless. This cost estimate was pre-pandemic, pre-inflation, and pre-supply chain disruption. · The full AVL plan should take place in advance of launching the second campus. Reliability and quality will be paramount as the streamed message will be central to the experience.

The original ALL IN vision included launching a second campus location where people can gather closer to their neighborhoods as a way to reach this growing region. We’ve had a team of Elders, Trustees and staff on our second campus strategy team to define the vision. Launching another location will allow us to reach people closer to their homes/neighborhoods and will provide new opportunities for our congregation to serve and lead. A key part of the vision is to place the campus proximate to physical needs, leveraging our partnerships to reach the local community. We will be exploring locations around the Frederick area and our hope is to launch sometime in 2024.