BERLIN — A local church is searching for space for a community center that would double as the congregation’s permanent home.
SonRise Church has so far had trouble finding a large enough site that meets all of the necessary conditions but church leadership is hopeful that if they get the word out about the project they will find a partner around Berlin.
“A new church home is really what we’re looking for,” said Daryl McCready, lead pastor for SonRise. “We’ve been portable since we started. We’re on the hunt and really struggling to find any land around here. We need 20 to 30 acres that are reasonably and affordably priced.”
The search for property has been ongoing for the last year. The scope of land needed has limited appropriate locations. Compounding the difficulty is that the 20 to 30 acres SonRise requires need to be perkable and/or have access to water and sewer.
Everything needs to be “buildable,” according to McCready, since the facility would provide both indoor and outdoor amenities as well as enough worship space for the church’s growing congregation.
“Our ultimate vision is to get a piece of property and build a community center that would have … some ideas are an indoor bowling alley, putt-putt golf, maybe a laser tag or indoor skate park. Something like that where families can just come and hangout and have it be a safe environment,” McCready said.
Just locating suitable land has been a challenge for the church but finding that land at a realistic price has so far proven impossible. SonRise turns 14 years old this October and brings in roughly 600 attendees to their weekly worship services, which are currently held at Stephen Decatur High School (SDHS) on Sundays. But even such an established church hits a wall when dealing with the area’s real estate market, which due to the presence of nearby resort town Ocean City, can be bloated at times.
SonRise isn’t looking for the land they need as a donation, clarified McCready, but instead are hoping that someone in the community agrees with their vision of a dedicated spot for youth and families to spend time together and participate in sports, games and other activities. Meanwhile, the facility would also serve as a permanent place of worship for the hundreds who attend SonRise every week.
“We’re just hoping that somebody will read this and know what we as a church do, what we value, what’s important to us and maybe they’ll go, ‘I’d sell them those 20 or so acres.’ We’re not looking for them for free,” said McCready. “We just can’t afford the prices that we’re seeing, ridiculous prices.”
The pastor acknowledged that such a partnership would be a leap of faith for the property owner. But McCready believes that SonRise’s reputation as a positive force in the community speaks for itself. For more than a decade, the church has been involved with charitable projects including food drives through their “Share the Harvest” program, fundraising dinners and events as well as student assistance efforts.
“We do a lot of projects with the schools. We have a value in our church where it just says that the church is here to be a blessing to the community,” McCready said, “and that’s how you share Christ with people: by being kind and generous and serving them.”
Last week the group also held another of its “$1 car washes,” where the congregation gave out free washes and instead of accepting any donations, actually gave each driver a dollar. The philosophy is that the church is meant to do good with no expectation for compensation and no ulterior motives.
“There’s no pressure, there’s no preaching, we refuse to accept money [at the carwash] which makes some people mad … We have an ultimate goal. We say that we serve because God said to, period,” said McCready.
It’s a belief that he hopes resonates with the community enough that someone will step up and help make the community center a reality.
With SonRise’s 14th anniversary on the horizon and a new branch starting in Salisbury this October, McCready feels that it is definitely overdue for the growing church to put down roots in a permanent home that it can call its own.
SHDS has been fantastic so far, he added, allowing the church to conduct three services every Sunday. But SonRise’s congregation has skyrocketed from the original 15 members and shows no signs of stopping. The church needs room to grow and McCready believes Berlin has a need for a large amount of activity space that would include a full gymnasium and fields for sports.
“It’s our community, that’s the whole thing,” said Daryl’s wife, Tracy McCready. “The people in our church are in our community and we just want this to be the most awesome community that there is.”
For more information, contact Pastor McCready at 410-629-1901 or email [email protected]. The church’s website can be found at www.sonrise.cc/ and it can also be liked on Facebook at SonRise Church.