Find out more about our Treasuring Christ Campus Expansion!

It’s been a minute.

The last time we gave you a real update, we were walking you through the kids’ wing. Since then the Stories page has been quiet, and some of you have noticed. (One of you asked one of us, very politely, whether the bathrooms survived the redesign. They did: eight stalls in the women’s room. We’re trying to keep our priorities straight.)

Quiet online hasn’t meant quiet at 529/531. So here’s where things stand.

Design is getting specific.

When we last wrote, the plans showed where the rooms would go. Now we’re deciding what’s in them. The team has spent the last several weeks in what’s called Design Development: the stage where the floor plans become real floors, walls, lights and air. If Schematic Design was deciding which rooms go in the house, this is picking the flooring, the light switches, and where the vents go so they don’t blow straight onto the drummer.

A few decisions you’ll eventually see and feel:

• We are really leaning into light and airy. As we’re making design decisions, we’re trying to make sure that lighting, finishes, and materials will help our space feel bright and inviting, not cold and cavernous.
• Finishes are being chosen room by room: durable flooring for the high-traffic areas, carpet where we want things soft and quiet, and indestructible tile for our kids’ bathroom with minimal grout.
• Lighting and sound are being designed together, so the speakers, the lights and the air-conditioning ducts aren’t all fighting for the same ceiling.
• We’re starting to develop a furniture plan for the whole campus, so we can make sure every space feels like home and functions the way we want.
• The outdoor space is still taking shape, with lots of cool ideas that we think will make it a joy to linger outside.

Pastor Kelly and Kristy have impeccable taste, and they are using every bit of it. Pastor David unsurprisingly has strong opinions about the HVAC controls.

The big one: October 21.

Before a former warehouse can become a church, the City of Torrance has to approve a Conditional Use Permit, or CUP. In plain terms, the CUP is the city saying yes, this building can be used for gatherings like ours. It covers things like parking, traffic and how the building will be used on a Sunday morning. This is a process that began this past spring, and until now, we have been patiently waiting for the city to review our plans. In God’s kindness, our preliminary conversations with the city have been favorable, and city staff are supportive of our project.

The CUP process culminates on Wednesday, October 21, at 6:30 p.m. at Torrance City Hall. Our partners at Visioneering and members of our church leadership will be in attendance to represent our church and present our project to the city.

When we went through the CUP process 15 years ago for our current building, it was such a wonderful reminder of the faithfulness of God, and we look forward to seeing more of his faithfulness on display with this current CUP application.

I will say out loud what all of you are wondering: “Can we all come?!” While a City Planning Meeting with 800 of our members would certainly be memorable, we’re going to ask that the meeting just be limited to our church leadership so that the presentation can be undistracted and focused. But we do have a suggestion for all that enthusiasm: Pray!

• Pray for Visioneering and our team to present our project with humility, honesty, integrity, and love
• Pray for a clear and favorable decision from the city
• Pray for good relationships with the city
• Pray for our neighbors in the business park, who will be impacted by our project
• Pray for our hearts to treasure Christ, no matter what comes next

What comes after.

If the CUP is approved, the next stretch is construction documents, then the city’s plan check (estimated early to mid 2027), then construction. We’ll keep you posted, and we’ll do it more often than we have been.

On Sunday, October 25, we’ll share a larger church-wide update on where the project stands as a whole. For those hungry for all the details, on Monday, November 9, we’re holding a Campus Expansion Update and Prayer Meeting, open to the whole church, where we’ll walk through everything in more detail and take your questions.

Why “Treasuring Christ” is still the aim

When we started this project, Pastor Gavin reminded us that the biggest danger in a building project isn’t the budget or the city. It’s our hearts. It is easy for the building to become the thing. It isn’t. As wonderful as it will be, it will simply be the place where our church family gathers to say and sing together, “What a great God.”

Thank you for your patience, your prayers, and your generosity. God has been kind to us in a hundred small details over the past year, and we can’t wait to tell you more. Pray for our CUP meeting on the 21st!