God is calling us to another big moment. Now is the time.
CAMPUS COMPLETION PROJECT
The central piece of our campus completion project is a new children’s building. Red Mountain is called to raise up committed followers of Jesus.
This calling includes children-raising them up in the Scriptures and in a relationship with the Holy Spirit so that they can be sent out as representatives of Jesus to their world. Given the increasingly harsh realities of our world and how they are impacting kids, we feel a great urgency to increase our effectiveness in discipling kids. In order for us to raise up the next generation more effectively, we designed a building that is holistic, spacious, safe and communal. It’s a building that is our attempt to physically demonstrate our priority of the discipleship of kids, who are integral to the plan and mission of God. To accomplish a project this large, we need to unite and make equal sacrifices. We need to raise up a new generation among us and continue sending them into the world of the 21st century. Please join us!
This video highlights some of the issues we deal with on a regular basis due to the age of these 20-something portables.
THE VISION BEHIND RAISE UP
In partnership with God, Red Mountain is called to raise up committed followers of Jesus, and this calling includes children. Kids have a unique value to God. They are an important part of his plan and their development is of high priority to Him. Our culture is confused on this, often celebrating certain compartments of growth like education or sports, but failing to value and celebrate their spiritual maturity. Our culture also tends to de-value kids. They are often “in the way” an “interruption” or left behind. We are seeing the carnage of this in their hearts and minds.
At Red Mountain, we want celebrate and value kids. We want to raise them up in the Scriptures and in a relationship with the Holy Spirit, so that they can be sent out as representatives of Jesus to their world. In raising up this next generation, we know they face a spiritual battle everyday as they experience the evil in this world and the evil in their hearts. Our calling is not to remove them from the experience of evil, as if they can just exist along side of the darkness in the world. Our calling as a church family is to help them be used by the Spirit to shine the light of Jesus into the darkness. And so, this building is an attempt to physically demonstrate our conviction and celebration of kids as valuable in the kingdom mission of Jesus. Just as Yahweh celebrates their growth, so we also want to celebrate their growth. As we engage in this type of Children’s ministry, we believe it will affect every aspect of our church. Not only will we seek to raise up children, but we will seek to grow our effectiveness in discipleship of students and adults. We believe that as we grow in this conviction to disciple children, it will affect how we make disciples across the board in our church.
Kyle and Becky express the vision behind Raise Up and the impact this campus completion project will have for future generations.
1. HOLISTIC
Our learning environments need to be updated. Every space in the building and around the building will be designed to instruct kids in a holistic way. We want to create spaces to help facilitate not just the accrual of information in their brains, but also the embracing of God’s love deep within their hearts. We know that effective teaching is important to biblical equipping, but we also know that people learn in different ways. More and more, we are seeing specifically that the type of environment in which our instruction takes place has an impact on learning. While the type of space alone will not lead to better teaching, we do think that the type of space does matter. To be more effective in making disciples of kids, we need spaces that can impact them holistically.
Three key elements of the building will help holistic learning. First, the building will feature high ceilings with lots of natural light. It will feel spacious, clean and comfortable. This type of environment helps the learning process. Second, it’s designed to accommodate large-group/small-group types of learning. The large group room will be for activities like games and worship, helping the kids see and build community. There will also be breakout rooms, which will be grade/age specific to help accommodate the various learning needs for each small group. It will also help volunteers get to know kids in a deeper way. The continual practice of movement from large group to small group helps kids see that they are not alone; that they are part of a larger community of people, following and learning about Jesus. Third, the building will include dedicated areas for children with special needs. This area will seek to accommodate the many different learning styles of kids at each stage of development. In these ways and more, we look forward to having engaging environments for holistic discipleship of our children.
As we prayed and thought about this project we asked ourselves: can we build something that creates adequate spaces taking in the latest knowledge of childhood development and learning?
2. SPACIOUS
We want to create space that will handle the increasing needs of our children, students and adults. The demographics in our community are changing to younger families, areas are being re-zoned for residency and schools are growing. As we effectively reach our neighborhoods, we need space to accommodate this growth. Given the kinds of things we want to do for children, students and adults, the portables and gym are maxed out, limiting what we can do. The gym remodel and the children’s building will have more space for curriculum resources, small group meetings and leadership development. The current space dedicated to Children’s Ministry is 18,000 square feet. The new building will have 23,000 square feet. It will also free up 4,000 additional square feet in our gym building for students and adults. Another element will be dedicated space for children with special needs. While we currently have tried to dedicate some space for this, it is far from adequate and it communicates that our special needs ministry is an “after thought,” which negatively impacts the credibility of the gospel. There will also be a large resource room, which will provide a great space for building connections and communication with the huge volunteer force that makes up our children’s ministry.
As we prayed and thought about this project we asked ourselves: how much space do we need?
3. SAFE
While our current facility meets physical safety minimums, there is much more we can do. Some practical safety features of the new building will include high windows which will allow for ample lighting and windows on the classroom doors so parents can easily check in on their children. The simple fact that the children will be under one roof in the new building is huge. Currently, all of the kids are spread out in different portables and the ability to get separated from their group is a greater risk. Once all of the kids are in one central location, that risk is eliminated. There will also be an advanced locking system in which all of the classrooms and individual wings can be secured in the case of an emergency. The building will have more bathrooms which will be easily accessible to kids and volunteers. Lastly, the playground structures will meet the latest safety codes and the playground for the younger kids will be fenced in.
The new building will help us protect kids from harm of all kinds. Kids in our current culture are experiencing high levels of brokenness and we need to have facilities that are built with this in mind. For us, safety is an overall level of comfort, peace and hospitality that children, students and parents sense as they arrive on campus. As kids face increasing levels of trauma, we want them to feel a sense of home — a sense that this is a place where they can be themselves, let their guard down and invite Yahweh into the deepest parts of their hearts. We want people to sense that we are a place that will speak the truth, and speak it in love. Safety helps facilitate learning and fellowship.
As we prayed and thought about this project we asked ourselves: can we build something that communicates we are a safe place in which to entrust your children?
4. COMMUNAL
Red Mountain wants to connect with our community and use our campus to engage it. In a culture of loneliness, it’s important that the community knows about our church and that our church knows about the community. In general, the church has become less central to communities in modern times. Therefore, we must work to remain visible and present in the midst of this world, and this impacts how we think about the design of our land. In completing our campus, we hope to provide walking paths, gardens, playgrounds and interactive water features as an external demonstration to our community that says, “Yahweh sees you and His arms are open to receive you.” We also want to create spaces within our buildings that engage the rhythms of our community, whether that’s through various ministry programs or simply being a resource.
As we prayed and thought about this project we asked ourselves: can we build something on our campus that proclaims that our church wants to play a vital role in the community?
OVER 30 YEARS AGO TODAY…
A small group of 30 people gathered together at Anzio Landing restaurant and started Red Mountain Community Church with the conviction that God wanted a local church in Northeast Mesa. The goal was not to be flashy, reach a certain size or to build a new church “empire.” The goal was to follow Jesus and make disciples of Him with a particular focus on children and students.
God seems to call Red Mountain to a few big moments that require us all to move to a new level of sacrifice in order to have a place for our gatherings. Interestingly, the key motivator in each of these big moments was the need for a place for our children and students. In 1993, the big moment was the purchase of land and the construction of the gym building. We had outgrown Anzio Landing in every way, with kids meeting in the kitchen and in RVs in the parking lot. In 2001, we felt we could not tackle the large cost of a dedicated children’s building, so we decided to construct the current portables for classroom space. We built the administration building in 2003 to free up needed classroom space in the gym. In 2008 we raised money and built a new Life Center, which would also provide more space for students and children.
Now God is calling us to another big moment. It’s time to update our buildings to aid our “raising up” a new generation. Now is the time for a big push that will help build the next 30 years of ministry.
LAND PURCHASE AND FIRST BUILDING
RED MOUNTAIN CAMPUS TODAY
Today
2008
We raised money for the Life Center, which we built in 2012.
2008
2003
We built the administration building.
2001
We built classrooms in the portables.
2001
1993
We bought land and built the first building.
1990
30 people met in Anzio Landing and Red Mountain Community Church was born.
1990
