Capital Campaign & Building Project
The leadership of River Oaks Church is excited to invite you to be a part of our next expansion project: “Investing for the Future“!
This initiative will include a new worship building, dedicated children’s wing, expanded parking, and numerous renovations to our existing facility.
This is a major milestone in the 30+ year life of our church, and we invite you to learn all about it below.
You can begin by watching this video introduction to the project from our pastors and staff.
What are we building?
This facility expansion will transform River Oaks in vital ways while still preserving the church’s DNA. The project will consist of two main efforts:
| New construction | Revitalization of existing space |
| 350-seat worship space Dedicated children’s wing New foyer New playground Additional restrooms Expanded parking | Dedicated youth wing New office space (replacing community center) Expanded classroom space (Bible studies, etc.) Revamped storage space Improved Sunday noise management |
You can view the tentative floorplans and renderings using the slideshow below. (Note: these are subject to change.)
Why are we doing this?
The Lord has been faithful to River Oaks Church over the past three decades, growing us from a small church plant to over 400 members and a full array of ministries. We completed our first building in the mid-1990s, and in 2023 we opened Westminster Hall and four new classrooms. But we have quickly run out of room to do the gospel ministries that we are called and uniquely equipped to pursue. The numbers tell the story:
If you have worshiped with us on Sunday morning, you’re well aware that parking is tight, and seating during both services is even tighter! And if you are part of ROC On Wednesday, you have seen this place burst at the seams with children’s activities, youth group, men’s and women’s Bible studies, and a community group. In fact, in our 2025 congregational survey, the results from nearly 100 respondents spoke for themselves:
- 100% stated that “accommodating future growth” was somewhat important or very important
- 50% ranked “parking” as one of our most important current issues
- 92% ranked “more worship space” as the top priority for an expanded facility
Now is the right time, then, for ROC to maximize the use of its remaining land to prepare a place for God’s people to worship and serve for generations to come.
What’s it going to cost?
This project consists of a few categories of expense: sitework/engineering (parking, curbs, etc) and sewer hookup, construction of the building itself, fees for architects/engineers, and costs for remodeling/furnishing. The total estimated cost is $3.7 million, with the following breakdown:
This project is undoubtedly a major investment. However, it will essentially double our square footage, increase our worship space capacity by 75%, position our children’s ministry for long-term growth, expand our classroom space for the teaching ministries of the church, provide our student ministry with a flexible and dedicated space in which to thrive, and much more. We will get a lot of “bang” for the “buck.”
How are we going to pay for it?
We will pursue a fiscally responsible approach to pay for this transformative project. “Investing for the future” will be funded as follows (estimated):
| Existing cash reserves | $700,000 |
| Capital campaign | $1,500,000 |
| Debt financing | $1,500,000 |
| Total | $3,700,000 |
We anticipate breaking ground once we have reached 100% in pledges for the capital campaign and collected 50% of the funds in the form of cash or non-cash assets (see below).
How can I contribute?
We invite all members and regular attenders of River Oaks Church to prayerfully consider being a part of the capital campaign, so that each of us is part of “investing in the future.” (The campaign status is shown at the top of this page.)
Step 1: Fill out a pledge. You can use a physical card available in the Welcome center, or you can fill out this digital pledge card. Our treasurer will track your pledge status during the course of the campaign.
Digital pledge card
Once you complete this pledge card and press submit, it will be sent to the church treasurer to record. He will follow up with you to confirm your pledge within a week.
Step 2: Make your contributions. You can send a check to the church (memo: “Capital campaign”) or use our online giving platform.
Note: If you are interested in non-cash assets, please contact our treasurer (Caleb Bancroft) to discuss.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is involved in this project?
The ROC building committee consists of Steve O’Dowd, Chip Gregory, Mike Bougoulias, Kim Bougoulias, Eva Loosier, Ben Rives, and Jennifer Duncan. The Deacons and Elders are also involved, as are key staff members. The primary third parties are BGW Architects and Collage.
- What will happen to the rooms we recently opened?
Westminster Hall will continue to be our main gathering space for meals, coffee, etc. The Von Bora and Wycliffe classrooms will continue operations as-is. The Knox-Calvin rooms and dividers will remain in place, though on Sunday mornings they will mainly serve as additional narthex space to facilitate traffic between buildings. We are exploring options as to when they can continue being used as classrooms (it depends, in part, on county codes).
- How will we manage things during construction?
Renovations to our existing classrooms and worship space will be quite limited until the new worship space is completed and ready to use. However, the existing community center will be demolished at some point during site work, which will necessitate us to develop a temporary solution for office space in the interim. We are currently exploring multiple options.
- Will we have one or two worship services? Can we build something bigger?
We are maximizing our usable acreage with this building project. There are limitations on how much we can build due to county-level requirements for parking and water retention. With our current attendance surpassing 400 people many Sundays, we will still have two services in our new space. However, we will still be increasing our effective seating capacity by 75%.
