They say that video killed the radio star, but for the Disciples in Daytona Beach Shores, FL, radio is very much alive.
Every Sunday morning, church goers maneuver their vehicles onto Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church’s grass field, tune their radios to 88.5FM, and take part in worship services broadcasted live from the second story balcony of the altar building, visible anywhere on the property.
With capital fundraising campaign guidance from our team at Disciples Church Extension Fund, this community of faith is not only keeping their innovative ministry active, but also expanding their place of worship to better serve their neighbors.
The early days
Daytona Beach Drive-In Church was established as an outdoor ministry by First Christian Church Daytona Beach (Disciples of Christ) with a vision to provide a less formal service to vacationers and snowbirds.
After establishing a relationship with Neptune Drive-In Theater in 1953, First Christian Church Daytona began leading Sunday worship there, in addition to services at its own church location. At Neptune Drive-In, it used the projection platform for sermons and the concession stand for its choir. Four years after its first service, Drive-In Christian Church was chartered as a separate congregation. When the movie theater closed in 1961, the faith community bought the property.
Steady or standing still?
Pastor Bob Kemp-Baird
As Daytona Beach Drive-In came into its own, remnants of Neptune’s presence were quietly removed, from the movie screen to the original sign.
Pastors that were called to serve the church stayed for decades, with only three pastors serving from its inception to 2012, when current Senior Minister Pastor Bob Kemp-Baird succeeded his predecessor and former youth pastor, Rev. Larry Dietch.
And yet, there was still room for improvement.
“We are always looking to make our events and ministries better,” says Pastor Bob. “At the church we like to say, ‘we can’t wait to see what God is up to next.’”
Growing in faith
During his tenure, the Drive-In Church has created more outreach opportunities, from starting ReNew Recovery Café, a ministry that supports its members in their recovery and reducing their return to use, to sending food and volunteers to the Port Orange Food Pantry. Over the past 12 years it has also broadened its partnership with Halifax Urban Ministries, a local homeless prevention and intervention organization.
Focus turned inward as well. When Pastor Bob joined the staff, he was the only full-time employee. Since then, a full-time associate minister and administrative assistant have been added to the team, as well as a part-time maintenance worker, audio-visual engineers, musicians, and additional administrative assistants.
Despite all these changes, the church wasn’t done yet. It still needed to expand its property to accommodate all this growth.
Building partnerships
In 2015, church leadership met with us seeking guidance for a capital fundraising campaign. Pastor Bob and his colleagues envisioned additional landscaping on the property, updates to their campus’s three entrances, and the demolition of a repurposed snack bar, which was being used as a fellowship hall. With an average of 600 worshipers per week, this outdated structure was too small for community events. Its removal would make way for the construction of a 7,000-square-foot Friendship Hall.
After meeting with our ministry, leadership realized that the scope of their project, which would take 2.6 million USD to complete, was too large – it would need to be divided into two phases with the initial phase addressing the landscaping and entrance updates and phase two addressing the Friendship Hall construction.
Over the course of two years, church members raised 400,000 USD to install a new gatehouse at the campus’s southeast entrance, relocate and improve an old bell tower, erect new signage, and construct an outdoor pavilion to replace an underutilized chapel.
In late 2017, the congregation was ready to embark on the second phase of their project—constructing a Friendship Hall to serve as a building accessible to the many retired folks who worship at the church. The facility would include a wide kitchen, offices, handicapped accessible restrooms, a multi-purpose room for dinners and large group gatherings, and a chapel that could seat 100 occupants for either weddings, memorial services, or even Sunday morning worship services. The Drive-In Church contacted us for help once again.
The Drive-In Church’s chapel
Being the only financial institution out of six that even considered funding the project, we helped them determine that they needed to raise 500,000 USD for a down payment and the initial expenses to start construction. A capital campaign team was put together, which went through a series of DCEF-led trainings throughout the following year. We guided their process and worked together as they successfully reached their goal.
In 2019, the Drive-In Church borrowed 1.75 million USD from us to complete its ambitious construction project.
As congregational leadership looked closely at their finances in early 2020, they decided to accelerate payments on the Drive-In Church’s loan principal by launching “Our Journey Continues.” With this second capital campaign, they hoped to pay off their loan early and convert those funds into investments in mission and ministry.
“We were able to do this when COVID-19 was hitting and throwing other churches into turmoil because our congregation experienced growth during that period,” explains Pastor Bob. “Since we had social distancing built in and had been live streaming worship for a number of years, we did not miss a Sunday service.”
So, the congregation took on the challenge of paying off its loan sooner than its 25-year amortization. Its first step was paying 20% more each month toward their mortgage. The second was launching the Circle of Generosity – their fourth capital campaign – last October, which aims to raise 500,000 USD over three years. Its goals were to eliminate the remaining 200,000 USD in mortgage payments, then increase accessibility on the church campus and expand ministry outreach. Within two months, the campaign raised enough money to pay off the mortgage, meaning the congregation had paid off its 25-year loan in 5 years. It had also raised 25,000 USD to add motorized doors and a handicapped accessible ramp to the Friendship Hall and improve restroom accessibility.
This past February, the Drive-In Church held a mortgage burning ceremony from the balcony where Pastor Bob usually conducts worship – five years to the day of their first regular payment on the loan. As for the future, the congregation looks to live out the commitments it made to increase accessibility on campus and invest in its community.
“I’m blessed to have a good relationship with my congregation. Churches need to define what’s unique about them, find what God is calling them to be, and then exploit the heck out of it,” he laughs.
Is your congregation looking to raise funds for a special project? Contact your regional Building and Capital Services Advisor to receive the guidance you need to reach your financial goals.