November 2025
November 10, 2025
by City Church
As we move closer to our new property, we’re thrilled to announce several important upcoming transition dates. We will share more details in the coming weeks, but here are a few key dates to mark:
December 24: Final service at House of Blues (Christmas Eve)
December 28 & January 4: No services
January 11: Sunday service at Saint Arnold Brewing Company. We will hold Sunday services at Saint Arnold’s until we move into the new property.
- Mid-February (Date is TBD): First Sunday at new property
Prior event at Saint Arnold’s
November 5, 2025
by Valerie Tompson, City Church Executive Director
Our staff visited the property two weeks ago, and it was such an encouraging and uplifting time! The sheetrock is up, and each staff member was able to more fully visualize their individual ministry areas in the space. Painting has begun, and we are working on furniture, landscaping, facility operations, and more. The wait has been long, but now we can see things moving forward quickly.
As we enter this season of transition, we are gathering a group of people who will commit to pray for the construction, move and transition, and future flourishing of our congregation. If you’d like to join us in prayer and receive a short weekly update, you can sign up here.
We are looking forward to sharing more soon about our plans for 2026 as we get closer to confirming a move-in date. Thank you for all your support and prayer.
Multipurpose space update from Margaret Melton, Ministry Coordinator
Signed beam
October 2025
October 5, 2025
Transcript:
Leo: Really exciting update to share with you. Valerie and I and our staff and elders are just so grateful for the overwhelming generosity of the City Church family.
In addition to an un pledged $825,000 collection of gifts that we mentioned at the end of the summer, we have recently received another $450,000 gift. And so we’re just truly amazed and grateful.
Let me put that in context a little bit. We have a total project cost of $13.3 million. That’s between the purchase of the property and the renovation costs. We expect to carry around 1.6 million in debt. And by way of reminder, our leadership believes that we can responsibly manage this level of debt. However, every dollar directed away from debt and toward ministry, makes a meaningful difference. And so at the risk of being that preacher guy that comes up and makes people feel guilty, I really want you to be encouraged where we are and invite any of you who have already participated and would like to make an additional gift to do so, or maybe you haven’t participated, but you’ve been around City Church and think this is where I want to make my spiritual home.
We would love for you to be part of this. This is a uniquely exciting season for us. So Valerie, what would you like to add to that?
Valerie: Well, I just wanna give you some updates on the actual project. We’re anticipating moving in early 2026.
As with any construction project, we’ve had a number of delays, which have been frustrating. But now that our staff is in planning season, wow, early 2026 is seeming so soon. And I could not be more excited about the progress at the site. I think you’re seeing some pictures behind me right now. So it is moving and we’re going to get there and we’re really excited. And it’s really almost like emotional for me to look out at all of you and think about being in the new space with you, it’s just so exciting.
And I have been immersed in this project. So if any of you want to talk about it, I’m happy to interact with you. If you have any questions, want a further update, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. And as Leo said, if you want to make an additional gift or pledge, I’m also the person to contact about that. So anyway, very exciting. And I just can’t wait for all of us to be there together.
September 2025
September 7, 2025
Special Update From Leo Schuster
We continue to be excited by the progress of our renovations. It’s thrilling to see new walls going up and to imagine them filled with people. We anticipate moving into our new home in early 2026. Recently, we also celebrated 10 years of City Church, giving thanks for God’s provision and faithfulness throughout our journey. It was a wonderful weekend.
I am deeply grateful for the overwhelming generosity of the City Church family. As with many building projects, our renovation costs have exceeded initial estimates, and we will complete the project carrying some debt. Thankfully, our leadership is confident this debt will be within a range we can responsibly manage. Even so, every dollar directed away from debt and toward ministry makes a meaningful difference. That’s why we are especially grateful to share that we have recently received $825,000 in unpledged gifts—an incredible encouragement as we press forward together.
If you would like to make a gift or pledge or have any questions, we would be glad to assist you. Thank you again for your generosity and partnership. I look forward with great anticipation to seeing how the Lord will use City Church in our new home.
August 2025
August 24, 2025
August 4, 2025
There are lots of moving parts right now as construction continues in earnest. The slab is being built for the new addition and walls are being framed in the kids and office space.
Right now we are working on signage. As we have been working through that project, it is exciting to think about people moving through the building. We are discussing lighting, furniture, colors, etc throughout the space, everywhere from the new commons entrance to the kids area to the coffee shop to our office space. Both the signage and all of these decisions make everything seem real.
I hope that you can join us the weekend of August 23 and 24 as we celebrate 10 years of City Church. We will be gathering for a celebratory lunch August 23 at noon at St. Arnold Brewery and then have a special worship service on August 24 at House Blues at 10:30 am. At each event we will have a beam available for signing that will be incorporated into our future home.
June 2025
June 29, 2025
Transcript:
Clint: I’d like to now invite Valerie Tompson, our Executive Director, to come out and give us some exciting updates about the property. We are all really excited about where we’re at, and it’s really starting to get real for our staff. It’s really coming together. So Valerie, could you share with us some updates about where progress is being made, what kind of has happened up until this point, and specifically where you can kind of see the vision coming together?
Valerie: Sure. So excited to get to tell you all what’s been going on at the new property. After several delays, which we’ve talked about in the permitting process, we feel like we are really moving now. They have done demolition inside. There is, I think there’s pictures, yeah. They are framing the inside. They’re about to pour a new slab for our Commons lobby area, which will be a place that we gather on Sunday mornings before we go to worship. I’m sure many of you have been wondering about the timing of all this. We are still hoping and praying that we can get in late 2025, but we’re beginning to prepare that it’s looking like it’s going to be early 2026. But I’ll just say I was out there this week, and I was so grateful to see all of the progress. One of the things that really struck me while I was out there is the kids area. I can totally see it coming together with the framing of the walls, the new nursery. In fact, we’re gonna show a quick video at the end of the service where I’m kind of walking through the kids area.
Clint: And for me, I think as we get ready to think about what ministry is gonna look like at 201 East 9th Street, as these walls are put into place and moved around, I can really get a vision for what Sunday mornings are going to look like in terms of seminars and classes and the kids area, like Valerie said. It’s amazing how just getting a couple pieces in place, it really feels like the vision is coming together. As we wait and as we work, how can we be praying for the process as a church?
Valerie: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. I and many of our staff are so immersed in all of the details going on right now with the property that sometimes I forget that lots of you want to help and don’t really know how. So I would just ask you first, and I know it sounds cliche, but please pray. Pray for efficiency at the job site, pray for wisdom as we make different decisions. And I really have been convicted that we need to pray for safety for all of the many people that are out on the site transforming this space for us. Then as a lot of you all probably know, we do expect to have debt at the end of this process, and we are prepared for that. But less debt is always better. So if you’re new to City Church and you didn’t participate in the reNEW campaign, we welcome gifts to the property at any time, as I’m sure you are not surprised to hear. And then finally, like I said, this is a big part of my world right now. And if you have questions, feel free to ask me. I want you all to be engaged and be excited. So just know that my door is open and I’d love to talk with any of you.
June 2025
June 2, 2025
We visited the property last week so our new pastoral hire, Aaron Foster, and his wife Cara could see it (you can see the in-service announcement below). It was so exciting to see dirt moved for the addition of a commons area where our people will gather before and after worship service. All the windows on one of the buildings have been restored – seeing the light coming into the youth space got us thinking about what it will look like filled with youth on a Sunday morning.
Of course, as with any renovation, we have had some unexpected things pop up. We are so deeply grateful to so many of you who have already given toward our new church home. Your generosity has brought us so far. We are still facing a gap. If you haven’t had a chance to give yet, we invite you to be part of this next step. Every gift matters.
Also, we are looking for people who would like to help out with ground maintenance this summer. If you are up for grabbing a City Church friend or two and doing some edging, etc, around the perimeter of the property, you can sign up here. There are a lot more details included on the sign up.
May 2025
May 8, 2025
It was great last month to see so many at our annual spring picnic which was at the Harvard Spark Park this year, across from our new property. Many enjoyed tours of the church space as renovations were beginning – it was a sweet foretaste of what it will be like when our community is able to gather at our future home.
Our permits cleared in early April and things are moving ahead. We are working on finalizing the coffee shop plans and interiors. Meanwhile our staff is beginning to plan for next ministry year and it’s such fun to think that some of the ministry year we will be in the new building!
April 2025
april 3, 2025
We are really looking forward to our picnic this Sunday, April 6 which will be at the Harvard Elementary Spark Park across the street from our new property. We will be offering hard-hat tours of the building and you can sign up for a tour after you arrive at the picnic.
We are in the final stages of permitting with the city and continue beginning work under our demolition permit. We hope to receive our complete permit in the next couple of weeks.
We are finalizing orders for equipment, interiors, and more, so things are moving along. It’s great to see so much of the space opened up and realize all the potential ministry opportunities that we will have at the new location.
March 2025
March 3, 2025
The property is fenced in now and demolition has begun in preparation for the renovations of our new home. We are still waiting on final permitting in a few areas. Please pray that we get approved in the next few weeks to avoid any delays.
This past Sunday we announced that Tenfold Coffee will be the operator for the coffee shop that will be in our secondary building. We could not be more enthused about this arrangement. The coffee shop will be part of City Church giving us an opportunity to host events plus be open to the community all week. This arrangement allows us to further the mission of City Church and serve the area.
Tenfold has been operating in the Heights since 2020 and is led by Jacob Ibarra. They work to elevate the value of coffee by creating a more sustainable supply chain for all. We are looking forward to partnering with them. In fact, you can now enjoy Tenfold coffee at our Sunday service!
Finally, we are thrilled that we will be having our spring picnic at the renovated Harvard Elementary Spark Park across the street from our new home on April 6. We will be offering some hard hat tours of the building during the picnic so make plans to join us!
February 2025
February 6, 2025
We could not be more excited about City Church’s move to 201 E. 9th St. early next year. We will be updating this blog the first week of each month, so check back for updates. You can read more about the property on our Future Home Page.
We have been working with architects from Huitt-Zollars where our lead is Allison Marshall, who has extensive experience in the church and nonprofit space. The construction will be performed by Humphries Construction. These professionals have been working many hours to get everything ready.
Our renovations plans were completed late fall 2024 and have been through one round of review and comments by the City of Houston. This week we submitted them for the second time for review. We have been told to expect this permit process to take one to two more rounds. Please pray that the plans will move efficiently through the permitting process.
We are able to begin some demolition prior to receiving permits for renovation and expect that to start next week. This is an exciting step for us! We are looking forward to showing you some pictures of the demolition next month.