Church buys land, but still needs home
By Geoffrey D. Brown, News-Post Staff

Frederick News-Post; April 11, 2006

By Geoffrey D. Brown, News-Post Staff

DAMASCUS -- After a three-year search, Damascus Road Community Church has settled on a purchase of 70 acres in eastern Frederick County for a new worship center.

The nondenominational evangelical church is working with an architect on a design, but has not set a time for start of construction, said Bryan Chaney, co-chairman of the church's development team.

"It's a beautiful piece of property," Mr. Chaney said Monday. The church paid $1 million, he said, for the land at Old National Pike and Bartholows Road between New Market and Mount Airy.

The planned building will be "a contemporary worship center with state-of-the-art audio-visual systems, an engaging children's and youth ministry and hopefully a large, open lobby area with lots of light for casual gatherings," church leaders said in a press release Monday.

"As the stewards of God's property, we are determined that what we build will enhance and serve the community around us," said Richard Fredericks, senior pastor at Damascus Road.

"It is going to be the lighthouse, the center, the hub of all our ministries," the Rev. Fredericks said. "This really means a place to call home."

The purchase ends the congregation's long and often frustrating search for land on which to build a home of its own, but members still face a short-term problem of finding a place to meet for the next several years while the building is planned, approved, and built, Mr. Chaney said.

Founded in 1997, the church meets at the Damascus Shopping Center, attracting 500-550 worshippers to two services every Sunday, but the shopping center is scheduled to be demolished this year.

Although Damascus Road has a guaranteed lease through February, demolition is scheduled to begin this summer, Mr. Chaney said, and the congregation would rather not hold services while the shopping center is being torn down around them.

"We really need to find a new location quickly," Mr. Chaney said.

"So Damascus Road is looking for its next miracle: finding a temporary location in which it can continue to meet for several years while its permanent home is under construction," according to the press release. The church is considering several options and has the flexibility of moving quickly because its current landlord has offered the option of ending its lease early, according to Mr. Chaney.

"Ideally, we'd love to find one 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot building, zoned properly, somewhere near Mount Airy, New Market or Damascus, but that's been difficult to find," Mr. Chaney said. "We're a seven-day-a-week church and we would like everything under one roof for the next two to three years so we can continue to grow our ministries and meet the needs of our members."

Mr. Chaney said the church would consider leasing space at more than one location, if necessary.