FAQ

Check out the questions and answers people have found most helpful.

In 2014 the building team presented the congregation with a $15M Master Plan. HVC completed a very successful READY campaign, reflective of the generous hearts in our congregation, raising about three times our annual giving or $6M. Combined with an expected $7M mortgage potential, which would be financed by the rent we paid at The Point, we planned to build in two phases. Phase 1 would include an expanded worship center, fellowship space, minimal offices, and combine the two campuses onto one location. Phase 2, planned for 5 years later, would expand youth spaces and add additional administration space. Phase 2 would require an additional campaign and the cost of the two-phased approach would approach $18M.

While we encountered 5 years of legal delays, we have continued to grow in such a way that the entire Master Plan is necessary as we begin building in 2020. During this 5 year period, construction costs have escalated significantly such that the equivalent $15M building now costs $20.4M. We have completed about $2.4M of the work from READY and have another $2M in the building account. Combined with the same $7M mortgage, this means we need to raise $9M (or 3 times our current annual giving) to finance the project.

The building is being designed to be functional and attractive as would be expected in the Hunt Valley community, but the intention was never to design with extravagance. The building team has repeatedly looked for ways to reduce costs and do the work more efficiently.

There are two parts to this answer. The first is that building in phases costs more in the end. Our original $15M building would have cost almost $18M in a two-phased approach and would not function as well as a building designed well from the start, which is what we get to do now. Secondly, in the past 5 years our church has grown in attendance and staff. We would not be well served by building a structure that was equal to or smaller than our existing needs – and there would not be room for growth.

When HVC made the decision to build out the auditorium at The Point we were faced with two problems: we were involved in a legal battle that was expected to take several more years (and lots more money) to complete, and we were regularly at or above capacity at our services at Beaver Dam. Our leadership saw an opportunity to build the Point auditorium, expanding seating capacity, while negotiating more attractive rent on our existing Point occupancy. When we leave The Point to combine campuses, the equipment we installed in the auditorium will be removed and reused in our combined facility. The funds to build the Point were partially covered by owner-built improvements as part of the monthly cost of the lease, and partially from savings generated over the past few years.

A gymnasium had been considered several times in the original design but drastically increases the cost of the facility, the cost of operating going forward and is not strategic with our mission. Additionally, churches have run into legal issues in Baltimore County where permits to build have been denied because gymnasiums are outside the scope of what the County believes is in the scope of church activities.

Constructing a building for the sake of having a bigger building has never been our goal. On the contrary, our mission and vision have always been focused on reaching further into our community, and the consolidated building is a tool for facilitating and supporting that. Constructing a bigger building is a necessity not only to support our existing growth today but for growth that will come in the future. It provides the base from which we can branch out. Our elders recently provided a video with our current goals of Reuniting our campuses, Retooling our facility and systems, and Restructuring for healthy leadership in future decades. The video can be found here: www.huntvalleychurch.org/update.

The neighbors, by agreeing to the settlement, resolved past and future inconveniences related to the expansion of HVC’s property. They agreed not to oppose, or encourage others to oppose, our construction plans. The County has already approved our full Development Plan and a plat we have on file means our zoning cannot be changed.

With the expansion at The Point we have created significant additional seating at the heavily attended 9:30 service which would otherwise not be possible. However, there are other issues besides seating that need to be addressed. For example, the rent we are paying for the additional auditorium is expensive and being paid to a third party – and we are not guaranteed long-range use of the facility. In addition, construction of the new expansion addresses issues created by a split campus and provides for growth in our other ministries, such a NextGen as well as fellowship space and parking.

The providence of God has brought us to a unique threshold where we have two very important tasks in front of us at the same time. To delay either is likely to cause more difficulty than to do both at the same time. Pursuing the building project while our current pastor is still leading the church sets us up for the future, including the success of the pastor who follows him. See the short video from our elders addressing this topic here: www.huntvalleychurch.org/update.