Campus Master Plan

Planting trees whose shade we may never sit in.

For 65 years, Forest Hills Baptist Church has grown from a small congregation into a church family with full worship, education, and fellowship facilities. As our campus ages and our attendance grows, our elders and staff have spent more than two years studying, praying over, and planning our next 25 years of ministry space.

See the Proposed PlanWatch the Vision Night Recap

Why Now

Weekly worship attendance has grown steadily across every service, and our most-attended hours are now regularly at or near capacity.

Sunday School

Up 7% year over year, averaging 871 in attendance and now full most weeks.

Sanctuary Worship

Up 18.7% year over year, averaging 450 in attendance at 82% of capacity.

Elevate Worship

Up 16.7% year over year, averaging 379 in attendance at 76% of capacity.

How We Got Here

Our elders and staff didn't arrive at this plan overnight. Here's the timeline that brought us here:

Feb–Mar 2023: Elders and staff begin studying long-range facility needs.

2023–2024: Two years of prayer, planning, and consultation with outside experts.

2024: Generosity consultant engaged ($82,000) to assess capital campaign feasibility.

Early 2025: Master plan concepts refined with architects and staff input.

Spring 2025: Plan presented to the congregation at Vision Night.

May 2025: Congregation votes on two resolutions.

June 4, 2025: Results announced; next-phase planning begins.

The Proposed Master Plan

A master plan is a visionary land-use roadmap — a flexible framework for how we steward our 14.5 acres over the next two decades. It is not a fixed set of building projects, and it is not set in stone. Adopting it simply affirms our shared direction while leaving room for the Lord to adjust the details along the way.

Adopt a 25-Year Campus Roadmap

A long-range view of how our 14.5 acres could serve the church for the next generation.

Improve Our Worship Spaces

Refresh the current worship center with simulcast capability now; in a future phase, build a new worship center seating 800–1,200.

Create Gathering Areas

A new south atrium connecting the student center, closing the "drag strip" driveway that currently splits our campus, and adding indoor and outdoor community space.

Update the Preteen Suite

Bring our elementary space out of the 1980s and into a room families are excited to bring their kids to — including a secured playground and improved access control, a priority the congregation named clearly in our survey.

Address Deferred Maintenance

The D-wing roof, aging electrical systems, and plumbing in the A and B halls need attention regardless of what else is built.

Expand Parking

Roughly a 30% increase — up to about 780 spaces — by reworking the lot and relocating the mission house.

Funding any of this — beyond what's already budgeted for deferred maintenance — would require a future capital campaign, and that campaign would require its own, separate vote of the church.

Congregational Vote

Two resolutions, decided by mailed ballot. Rather than vote from the floor on a single Sunday, the elders mailed a ballot to every member so the whole church family could take part. Ballots went out May 22, 2025, and were counted following the return window.

Resolution No. 1 — Adopted, 83%

Adoption of the Campus Master Plan. Formally adopts the plan presented at Vision Night as our official long-range direction — while affirming it may be revised as the Lord leads.

Resolution No. 2 — Approved, 80%

Engagement of Architect & Generosity Consultant. Authorizes the elders to engage Visioneering Studios and a generosity consultant to develop cost estimates, funding strategies, and timelines — capped at $180,000 from the Capital Reserve.

What This Vote Does Not Do

This vote does not commit us to a capital campaign, approve any specific building project, or authorize any construction spending. The church retains the right to approve every future project, cost, and timeline by its own separate vote.

Already Underway

What's changing this year — no capital campaign required. Thanks to a budget surplus and legacy gifts already on hand, the church is addressing our most urgent deferred maintenance now, and shifting our Sunday schedule to make better use of the space we have.

Simulcast equipment (Sanctuary & Elevate) — Approved. Additional security cameras — Approved. A & B wing electrical improvements — Approved. A & B wing plumbing repairs — Approved. Preteen suite refresh, $20,000 — Approved. D-wing roof replacement, $450,000 — Recommended. Elevator replacement, $85,000 — Recommended. New security door control system — Recommended. Items marked "Recommended" were approved at the May 21 Family Gathering, funded entirely from existing reserves — no fundraising required.

New Sunday Schedule — Begins August 10, 2025

8:30a — Sanctuary & Elevate, Together

Live choir-led worship and live preaching in the Sanctuary; a simulcast of that same message paired with live band-led worship in Elevate.

9:45a — Sunday School

Small groups for all ages — shifted 15 minutes later to create more breathing room between services.

11:00a — Elevate

Live band-led worship and live preaching.

Watch & Listen

Hear the full presentation, in our leaders' own words. If you weren't able to join us in person, these two recordings cover everything above in much greater depth — including the full concept renderings and live congregational Q&A.

Family Gathering Q&A

Vision Night Recap

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers drawn from our May 21 Family Gathering Q&A. Have a question that isn't covered here? Reach out to the church office — we'd love to talk with you.

No. This vote only adopts the master plan as a long-range direction and authorizes hiring an architect and generosity consultant to develop real cost and funding estimates. No capital campaign or financial commitment can be initiated without a separate, future vote of the church.

We're still in the discovery phase. The renderings shown at Vision Night are conceptual, not construction drawings. Specific details will come once an architect is engaged and a phase-one project is brought back to the church for its own approval.

Nothing yet. The plan suggests these spaces could eventually be repurposed or replaced, but any decision to alter or remove existing buildings would come back to the church as its own, separate vote.

A generosity consultant helps churches think biblically about giving and, when the time comes, plan and run a capital campaign. The recommended firm has 35 years of experience in this space and views generosity as a matter of discipleship. Their full engagement fee is $82,000, payable in installments, and cancelable at any point if the church does not move forward — it is not a lump sum due after this vote.

Yes, and it was ultimately not recommended. The cost per space, ongoing maintenance, and ingress/egress challenges on our site were all prohibitive. The proposed surface-lot expansion (up to roughly 780 spaces) is expected to be sufficient as we grow.

A building team will be named once there is an actual construction or renovation project underway. Right now there isn't a specific project to manage — that comes after the architect's work is complete.

The Long Range Planning Team explored this. The property across Old Hickory contains historic burial grounds and will never be available. A neighboring landowner's property isn't for sale. Land just south of the church has already been sold to a developer. Realistically, our 14.5 acres are what we have to steward for the long term.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain."

Psalm 127:1

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