FAQs

We believe adding campuses is the most strategic way to reach more people, impact more communities, and help more people engage in our mission. With a few of the fastest-growing areas in the country just to our north, we feel we can have a huge impact in communities where distance from an existing campus is currently a big obstacle to engagement and impact. Also, after a dip in attendance at the height of COVID, our campuses are now showing encouraging growth in their communities.

Historically we have built “church first” spaces, where we first determined what programming the church needed and then hoped the spaces also worked for other things. This approach leaves us with spaces that are empty for most of the week. Our new campuses are starting with the question, “How can this space add value to the community and meet people in the daily rhythm of their lives?” As we answer that question, things like coffee shops, childcare, counseling centers, and other opportunities shaped by a community’s unique needs will begin to emerge. We will also make sure the spaces work for church programming during key times of the week.

Our desire is for our existing campuses to be daily hubs of activity for our community, too. Offering high-quality childcare for our community is one approach. Local Good Coffee Co. is another. We are looking at each campus to figure out what community needs we could meet with our spaces, and going forward from there.

We’ve had more than 50 requests for campuses in different areas, After some feasibility studies, we’ve narrowed it down to a few opportunities. The North McKinney/Anna/Melissa area has emerged as one possibility, given its combination of need and resident Chase Oakers; there are also great opportunities with high-growth areas like Celina and Sherman. Those are our top three candidates, and we have a team with expertise in real estate and city planning that is working hard on the specifics.

As we activate our spaces for daily community activity, we believe a chapel would be beneficial in multiple ways. First, we can engage our community during pivotal circumstances, especially in times of grief and funeral events. The chapel will also create a dedicated sacred space for people to pray and experience God. In addition, we would benefit from another large group gathering space as we have three campuses (Chinese, En Español, and Legacy) that currently meet at the Legacy campus.

Chase Oaks has had a great reputation in the community because of the good that Chase Oakers have been doing for decades. Last year, we were approached by a pantry in Richardson that was feeding 5000+ people a month but struggling with resources to continue. We looked at the potential impact a pantry could have, our commitment to the city of Richardson, and our desire to provide more community engagement for Chase Oakers and their friends. We decided to say “yes” to the opportunity, so in November, that pantry closed on a Friday and the new Local Good Pantry opened the following Monday. The Pantry is off to a great start, and we have a lot of enhancements for it planned through the Reimagine project.

The Local Good Center is a bright spot in our community and church. As we have established our four pillars and built great partnerships, a resale store—focused more on household items / furniture than clothes—makes sense for multiple reasons. It would be a resource for our partners who are helping people transition into apartments, homes, and other living situations. It would also offer another way we can contribute to the good of the community and invite our friends to do the same. Research and talks with others show it would be financially positive and would help fund many of the other programs we lead at the Local Good Center.

With the Local Good Center, Local Good Pantry, and Local Good Coffee Co., we have a “collective” of elements that work together to meet community needs and invite others, including our unchurched friends, to be part of something good. The elements all work together synergistically to deepen our impact in the community, provide engagement for people, and tell a local story of hope. Local Good is a brand and message that people outside the church are much more open to than “church.” Taken together, these initiatives are a great way to create common ground around the common good as we rebrand Christianity through relationships and meeting real needs.