By A. Lee Graham
Reporter
Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth is planning a second campus to serve growing numbers of Parker County residents.
Having built a sizable following at 2600 Montgomery St. north of Interstate 30, the church considers its planned Willow Park facility critical to serving Parker County families who made the weekly trek to Fort Worth for Sunday services.
“Quite a few of them drive in for morning worship, and then drive their kids back for evening student programs. That’s a lot of driving,” said Bill Egner, executive pastor of the nondenominational church.
No architect has been hired to build what the church calls its West Campus, along the service road at 3610 Interstate 20, which Egner called smaller than the Fort Worth location. Project costs have not been determined, though the church plans to use its own money to fund the project, Egner said.
Sunday services near the West Campus began in January and continue at the Aledo Ninth Grade Center. A construction timeline for the new campus has not been finalized, but church leaders hope to open its doors by January 2016.
Egner likened the church to a leading fast-food franchise.
“Whatever is on the menu at the Fort Worth ‘McDonald’s’ will be on the menu at the Parker County location,” Egner said of church classes, services and staff members corresponding to those in Fort Worth.
“It will not be identical, but will be identifiably Christ Chapel,” Egner said.
Meanwhile, plans to add parking at the Fort Worth site continue after church leaders and residents clashed last year over plans to use home lots the church purchased in recent years for parking.
“It’s on the way,” said Rick Neves, the church’s chief operating officer, regarding added parking spaces. “They should be open sometime this year.”
Plans call for three grass parking lots offering 200 combined spaces. Project costs have not been finalized because numbers on the largest lot have not been decided, Neves said.
The lots are both north of Pershing Avenue. One lot is between Owosso and Margaret streets, with the other between Margaret and Montgomery Street. The church has 934 parking spaces and uses more spaces on neighboring property through agreements with individual property owners, Neves said.