“Today is about the bright future of Christian City.” Those were words of CEO Bob Crutchfield Sept. 10 as he announced plans for an enormous expansion of the Christian City campus in front of a packed assembly room at Sparks Hall.

Estimated to cost $73 million, the multi-year projects will touch most facets of community life and carry a value comparable to the current worth of the entire Christian City complex. Projects will be implemented as the funding specific to the individual area is arranged.

Crutchfield in elaborating on 10 separate areas was quick to note that various ones would phased in at different times depending on a variety of factors, including available funding.

But it is the need to continue to serve adults and children that has become the prime mover in the need to expand.
Now in its 46th year, the 500-acre campus and its 100 buildings are valued at $70 million. Christian City currently serves 1,000 children and adults with a staff of 500 and many volunteers, Crutchfield said.
But Crutchfield was clear that the eyes of the ministry are fixed both on current services and those that will be needed in the future.

“The voices are still calling to us from the future. They are calling out to us,” Crutchfield said. “God is waiting to see if we answer the call.”

Crutchfield said plans for the expansion are a result of strategic plan developed over the past several years.

“This expansion is a vision, an image and a roadmap to the future. It will comes as a methodical approach and not all will come at once,” he said.

As laid out by Crutchfield, the projects will improve the various entrances to the campus, improve internal roadways to enhance connectivity and infra-campus accessibility, create 62 independent-living patio homes, create 80 assisted living and 20 memory support units, create three developmental disabilities adult homes and renovate the Sparks Inn and the Nursing and Rehab Center, which will also create 100 new private pay rehab beds.
Also included in the expansion plans are creating an outreach Wellness/Rehabilitation Center, creating a resident Life and Activity Center to provide a meeting place for 600-700 people and, finally, creating a Senior Center for Christian City and the community.

“The Life and Activity Center will be the center of Christian City life,”
Crutchfield said.

And it was not only buildings and roadways that will see the benefits of the expansion. The interiors of the various buildings, too, will see cosmetic upgrades that Crutchfield said would result in a state of near elegance.

As for the implementation of the expansion plans, Crutchfield said clinical staffing has already been expanded as has expanded physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. The pharmacy will come on-line in the first quarter of 2010 following the renovation of available facilities.

Home healthcare, expanded hospice and other care services will begin in the fourth quarter of 2009 along with selected renovations of Sparks Inn and the Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
As important as any aspect of the future plans for Christian City are the finances that will make it all work.

“Each component will be financed in a different way,” Crutchfield said. “There is the potential to be positively affected by the state’s fair rental value system, and should that come about, additional resources will be available to accelerate those activities.”

Crutchfield said the expansion of ancillary services such as the pharmacy and home healthcare will come by way of funding through investments by collaborative service providers.

And the construction of new facilities will be financed through a variety of potential mechanisms including potential tax-exempt bonds, tax credit-based financing, conventional financing and a capital campaign for campus development.

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