‘Blindsided’: Charlotte church in Ballantyne YMCA was unaware of branch sale plan
For 15 years, Forest Hill Church has regularly met at the Morrison Family YMCA in south Charlotte, ever since the church funded the Ballantyne branch’s expansion. Now, the pastor who led that drive before forming his own congregation will displace Forest Hill after his own growing flock takes over the property.
In a surprise move last week, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte announced it was selling the Morrison complex for $42.5 million to Moments of Hope Church, led by pastor David Chadwick, the former Forest Hill leader. The deal is expected to be completed by next summer, at which point the Morrison YMCA will close.
A few days after the YMCA’s announcement, Forest Hill lead pastor Doc Hanberry addressed members of his six-campus congregation during the 9 a.m. Sunday church service from the Morrison YMCA with a message about the sale.
“Unless you’ve lived under a rock, you’ve probably heard the news,” Hanberry said during the service in a video posted on the church’s website. “I want to remind you of our vision: to bring the ministry to one person in Charlotte at a time. The vision is not dependent on four walls, seats, Wi-Fi or air conditioning.
“If the city of Charlotte is watching for the response of Forest Hill,” he said, “we about to give ‘em Jesus.”
Hanberry also said he was notified about the sale only 11 minutes before the YMCA publicly announced it on Wednesday, June 17. He did not say who broke the news to him.
“Our church was blindsided,” the pastor said.
In a statement to The Charlotte Observer Wednesday evening, the YMCA said due to the size and complexity of the transaction, it could not share information about the proposed sale until the agreement was finalized and approved by its board of directors.
The YMCA said it told Forest Hill officials about the sale ahead of the public announcement. “We understand that the timing of that notification may have been disappointing given the church’s longstanding connection to the facility,” the YMCA said.
The deal was signed in the afternoon on June 16, a Moment of Hope Church official tied to the sale told the Observer last week. The YMCA announced the deal publicly at 11 a.m., June 17.
Forest Hill Church at the Morrison Y in Ballantyne
The looming displacement is different from the hopeful mood of summer 2011, when the YMCA and Forest Hill came together to address mutual space and financial challenges.
They formed a partnership after the church experienced rapid growth that had outpaced its main Park Road campus and satellite location at Ballantyne Village Theatre.
The Morrison YMCA wanted to expand but lacked the money to do so. It already was one of the largest YMCA facilities in the country, serving more than 20,000 members in 2011, the Observer previously reported.
Forest Hill planned to spend up to $15 million to buy property, but the YMCA partnership would save the church millions.
With a goal of seating 1,000 worshipers, a $4.5 million Morrison YMCA expansion project was funded by Forest Hill’s “So That” capital campaign. The project included two basketball courts, an indoor track, an athletic training center and exercise rooms.
It also featured a retractable wall to keep the worship stage set up and an atrium for socializing.
In exchange for the funding, the church secured a 30-year renewable lease to use the facility rent-free for Sunday worship and off-peak hours, the Observer previously reported. The YMCA kept full use of the new floor space to expand programs, including basketball, preschool and fitness classes.
Forest Hill Church opened the doors to its Ballantyne extension project on Sept. 18, 2011.
This led to a jump in attendance, drawing around 600 people during opening weekend. Church leaders celebrated that the space was being used throughout the week, expanding its reach among residents in the Ballantyne area.
In 2011, Associate Pastor Tom Kakadelis said it took a year-and-a-half to put the plan together, but the marriage of the two organizations met both their goals, the Observer reported at the time.
“We’re still in the honeymoon phase,” Kakadelis said. “But I think it’ll continue to go well, with our purposes being similar. They focus on the body, and we focus on the spirit.”
One pastor, two churches in Charlotte
That honeymoon phase eventually gave way to a complicated reality involving Chadwick, the man who helped orchestrate Forest Hill’s expansion with the YMCA.
Chadwick had spent 39 years at Forest Hill Church, helping transform a once-modest congregation into a megachurch. The Morrison YMCA location was a key part of that growth.
In March 2019, Chadwick resigned from Forest Hill under pressure from the church’s Council of Elders and other leaders who complained that his managerial style was too demanding and authoritarian, the Observer reported at the time.
Chadwick had framed the move as a desire to pursue new projects and a new calling, including the expansion of his Moments of Hope ministry and writing books. He also wanted to step away from administrative burdens that came with managing a sprawling church operation.
A month later, Chadwick founded Moments of Hope Church. Now that church is poised to take over the 87,000-square-foot facility at 9405 Bryant Farms Road. Funds from the sale will allow the YMCA to accelerate its $100-million regional reinvestment plan in other branches.
The sale was the result of what YMCA officials called an unsolicited, compelling opportunity from Chadwick’s church.
‘I hold no grudges’
Moments of Hope Church plans to redevelop the Morrison property into a permanent ministry headquarters, with youth sports programs and community outreach.
When asked about the fate of Forest Hill at the Morrison YMCA, Chadwick said his former church will no longer use the facility after its lease agreement with the Y ends. He did not say when the lease ends.
Observer archives show Forest Hill would still have 15 years on its lease left with the Y. It’s unclear how the sale’s finalization next year will impact the terms of the lease.
“Forest Hill Church remains committed to the Ballantyne community,” Hanberry said in a statement to The Observer on Monday, June 24. He has led Forest Hill since 2023.
When the Observer asked for more details about what that might look like, the church declined to elaborate on its future at the Morrison YMCA.
For his part, Chadwick said he harbors no ill will toward Forest Hill.
“I love that church, and I only want it to succeed,” Chadwick told the Observer last week. “From my heart, I have met with their senior pastor, and I pray for their success. I hold no grudges.”
Moments of Hope has about 1,200 members now. As of 2019, Forest Hill had over 4,000 members and 12,000 visitors annually at its six campuses. Both congregations identify as non-denominational, evangelical Christian churches.
“It’s ironic it was a part of my last church experience,” Chadwick said. “I pray God’s best for them.”
What happens next at the Morrison YMCA in Ballantyne?
The Morrison YMCA will remain operational until the deal closes. The Y is working to retain staff or identify relocation opportunities within the organization’s network. The Morrison YMCA opened 25 years ago and serves about 4,200 households.
For now, Moments of Hope meets at Providence Square Shopping Center in south Charlotte. And Forest Hill continues to meet at the Morrison YMCA.
“We don’t know the plans that the Lord has for us,” Hanberry said in his forward-looking message last Sunday, “but the vision He’s given us is still in play.”
