By RaeAnn Slaybaugh
The “country-politan” design of this Dallas-adjacent church expansion delivers better connection, community
As a multisite church with five campuses in the Dallas metro area, Community Life Church is great at growth.
But when its Forney location needed to be expanded, the three co-pastors — David Griffin, Randy Wade and Paul McDill — did something a little different: they decided to stay put
For a church that’s adept at launching new campuses when the time is right, it might seem counterintuitive. After all, part of the church’s expansion DNA is to “make it work” — usually by revamping other houses of worship and warehouse-type buildings.
“One of them was another church that we purchased for $10 — and we might’ve overpaid,” jokes Community Life Church (c|Life) Co-Pastor David Griffin. “But that’s the exception; oftentimes these buildings are the most fiscally responsible choices for us.” Partially, this is because they usually come with land and utilities in place.
Launched on a warehouse campus on the outskirts of Dallas, c|Life Forney fit the profile in a lot of ways. But it had something extra: nearly 18 acres of land.
Where do we grow from here?
c|Life Forney started in a skating rink-turned-worship-center in 2008, not that you’d know by looking at it. After all, church leaders are adept at making sure all c|Life’s facilities are modern-looking, with up-to-date paint and finishes and more.
“We updated [the Forney building] along the way to keep it as current as we possibly could,” Griffin recalls. “But at a certain point — after we’d started a second location elsewhere — we knew that wasn’t enough; we needed to come back and expand our Forney campus.”
At the time, the community of Forney, Texas was transitioning into the highly residential, highly populated area it is today. Although it’s rural compared to nearby Dallas, it’s also home to a handful of manufacturing plants — and as such, a lot of families.
To make sure the expanded campus resonated with the community around it, c|Life leaders enlisted Dallas-based HH Architects. The vision was immediately clear to President and CEO Bruce Woody.
“Because they’re in a rural setting, they wanted to pick up some of that aesthetic — a modern farmhouse look,” he explains. “We knew that it would need to be reflected in the finishes, the ceilings, the wood; it all needed a sleek, contemporary look, resonating within a growing rural farm community.”
All three co-pastors were onboard with this aesthetic. Griffin even coined it ‘country-politan.’
“Especially on this east side of Dallas, there’s a strong kind of country feel,” he explains, citing as an example the nearby community of Mesquite, which hosts one of the world’s largest rodeos.
“Once you move east of Mesquite, there are a lot of pastures, a lot of cattle,” Griffin adds. “This area is modern, it’s growing, it’s new; but it still has farm-country appeal.”
Fortunately, a great infrastructure was already in place at the Forney campus. The church would repurpose the current 18,000-square-foot worship building (the aforementioned former skating rink) into dedicated children’s ministry space. Meanwhile, they would build a new, 20,000-square-foot, two-story building with an 800-seat worship center to accommodate the growing church family. When finished, the expansion would comfortably accommodate three worship services and three education services.
Also planned: a brand-new nursery and preschool, along with a large hospitality area featuring a welcoming café.
With all the pieces in place to embark on an exciting campus transformation, the team got to work.
Making space for better connections
First, the original worship/children’s ministry building — a stucco, stone, and metal industrial structure — was reimagined into a dedicated children’s ministry space. Although it had served its purpose as a worship space up to that point, flow was a definite issue: at the time, 1,500 visitors were making their way in and out of the building on Sundays.
“Every single person entered and exited out of the same pair of double doors before and after four worship services,” Griffin recalls. “People were going in every direction inside that space, and the kids were pretty much on top of each other.”
So, the original 350-seat worship building was retrofitted for children’s ministry with its own dedicated check-in area and greeting space. It was then integrated into the campus expansion with a covered walkway leading to the new worship facility.
Inside the new worship facility, the sanctuary is well-designed for online production, thanks to a separate, soundproof room.
Leaving the sanctuary, the first thing people see is the coffee house. “That’s by design,” Woody points out. “It’s reflective of, ‘Hey, we’re here to serve you. Stick around so we can get to know you.’ Very intentional.”
Moving further into the building, people find large-volume hospitality spaces to relax in and enjoy, including a café and a two-story, living room-style fellowship space with a fireplace.
“Again, in this space, we were emulating that modern farmhouse feeling,” Woody explains. “All the elements speak to this: the stone fireplace, the high wood ceilings, and so on.”
The result is undeniably homey. In fact, the fireplace has become an important element for families at c|Life.
“I never dreamed this would happen, but it’s an amazing photo op,” Griffin shares. “During the Christmas season and at Easter, a lot of families are charting their children’s growth, standing in the same place year after year. They’re like, Wait a second! Now our son is taller than the mantle…”
QUICK FACTS ABOUT c|Life FORNEY
Year established: 2006
Number of locations: 5 physical campuses / 1 online campus
Number of staff: 49 full-time / 16 part-time
Combined weekly attendance: 5,000-6,000 in person / 2,000-3,000 online
2025 budget: $10.8 million
(Fireplaces have long been a design staple for c|Life campuses. As Business Administrator Robert Avery points out, they are a major feature at three of the church’s five physical locations.)
Flanking the fireplace at Forney are large glass windows that look out on a courtyard and doors providing access to this space.
The net effect makes people want to stay and gather, as intended.
“I think that communal space is incredibly important for us,” Griffin says. “Now, people can actually be there during the week.”
Case in point: this new building accommodates 500 youth group members on Wednesday nights, 200-plus women for each of multiple Bible studies, and more than 100 men for men’s Bible study every week. Another recent men’s event welcomed more than 500.
The occasional large event, like the upcoming women’s conference or youth event, might see up to 700 tickets sold, plus 150 overflow tickets. When this happens, the outside gathering area might be filled with a laser tag setup, trampolines and other kid-friendly activities. “People can just go out there and grab lunch or dinner, and we love that part of it,” Griffin says. “That’s when that outdoor space really pops.”
Authenticity at the forefront
Sure, we’re talking about some big people-numbers, here. But one thing Griffin and Avery want to make clear: c|Life Forney is still a small church.
“The way we describe ourselves is like a neighborhood bank, but we would be a Bank of America or a Chase branch,” Griffin explains. “We’re still small, and we still know the people. We have campus pastors. If you come to our church, you know who’s going to come see you in the hospital, for instance.”
For Robert Avery in particular, it’s important to highlight the understated functionality of the Forney campus and c|Life’s four other locations. “They’re comfortable, but they’re not opulent,” he explains. “A lot of times, when you walk into a church and it looks like a hotel conference center, you think, Why is that important here? You don’t ever get that feeling on a c|Life campus. You feel secure. You feel safe.”
This echoes what Griffin says is people’s favorite part about c|Life.
“If you ask almost anyone, they’ll say: ‘c|Life is authentic,’” he shares. “By default, our architecture mimics that authenticity.”
For their part, Griffin and Avery credit this consistency to HH Architects’ vision for the Forney campus.
“Bruce [Woody] and I sat down and ate some pizza, and I just felt like, Man, this guy really wants me to succeed,” Griffin recalls. “That’s what it felt like — that he really wanted to be our partner.”
Aside from the personal connection, Griffin says c|Life was looking to do something special on its Forney campus. “We knew we needed something a little something extra,” he recalls. “We weren’t just tweaking a warehouse space this time; for a big part of it, we were starting from ground up.”
Avery agrees and says he was reassured that HH Architects was the right fit during the course of construction.
“They really listened to what the church wanted,” he says. “When we talked to them about our culture and the environment we wanted to create, they offered a lot of good advice on elements to incorporate that would help us maintain that feel.”
As Woody points out, cost-effectiveness was also a priority. To this end, the desired modern farmhouse look was partly achieved using modern materials to modify the structural systems.
“It was all about functionality, flexibility and cost, but also doing a cool building,” he explains. “We needed to do all of that for a modest budget.”
Room to grow, built-in
With a long-term vision in place for future campus development at Forney, the newly built interim worship center will eventually be repurposed as a multipurpose space for youth gatherings, dining, and other ministry activities.
This phased approach allows for continued growth, particularly in children’s ministry, while ensuring that c|Life Forney has the space and resources to serve its community for years to come.
Griffin says he’s grateful for HH Architects’ eye toward the future.
“We recognize the work that we do as church leaders is incredibly important, but I’m not a building designer. I’m not even a space designer,” he says. “I’m trying to help people craft the spiritual.”
A building, he acknowledges, is a tool to help c|Life do just that.
“I do think that there’s a narrative that speaks to people from the moment that they walk on our campus, from the moment they walk in that door,” he concludes. “This space helps to dictate the message we’re sending. HH did a great job keeping that at the forefront.”
